CUBA RELEASES 6 DETAINEES WHO COMPLETED SENTENCES

C O N F I D E N T I A L HAVANA 000406

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/25/2017
TAGS: PHUM CU
SUBJECT: CUBA RELEASES 6 DETAINEES WHO COMPLETED SENTENCES


Classified By: COM Michael E. Parmly; Reasons 1.4 (b/d)


1. (U) On April 24, the Cuban regime released from detention
six of its citizens that it had arrested in July of 2005:
Lazaro Alonso Roman, Manuel Perez Soria, Elio Enrique Chavez
Ramon, Jose Diaz Silva, Emilio Leyva Perez, and Dulian
Ramirez Ballester. The arrests in July 2005 were for
peaceful protests to commemorate the anniversary of the
regime's sinking of a tugboat in 1994, killing 42 intending
immigrants; and also for a peaceful protest outside the
French Embassy on Bastille Day. Those released had served
their sentences. Over the weekend the GOC released Jorge
Luis Garcia Perez, known as "Antunez" one month after he
completed his 17-year sentence. His original arrest was for
saying "Down with Fidel" into a microphone at a social event.


2. (C) Leading dissidents have told us that these releases
represent no change in the regime's repressive character.
Martha Beatriz Roque (MBR),who alerted us to the fact that
the Spanish Embassy was advertising to EU members that the
releases demonstrate concrete results from FonMin Moratinos's
visit in early April, said that neither the Spanish nor the
Cuban regime deserve any credit. In her words: "Let's not
let ourselves be fooled by this device whereby they show us
that they are releasing prisoners when they've all completed
their sentences, or even spent more time than sentenced, as
in the case of Antunez. If the Spanish want to attribute
this to the Moratinos visit, we cannot permit them, and for
this reason we shouldn't say the individuals were 'freed,'
but rather that they simply served their time....The Cuban
government uses language in a way that confuses all who let
themselves be confused." MBR coordinated this message with
most of the other signers of the democratic opposition's
"Unity Document." Ciego de Avila-based Human rights activist
Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leyva, visiting USINT April 25,
commented along these same lines. "It's a charade," is how
he put it.


3. (C) Comment: It is not a coincidence that the Cuban
regime would let these detainees walk during the very week
that European Heads of Mission are putting their final
touches on the paper they will send up to the EU for the
upcoming ministerial meeting that will review the EU common
position on Cuba. The Polish Charge told us April 24 that
views among the EU member missions were divided and that
consensus was not likely. His worry was that EU President
Germany would draft a document that sees the glass half full,
leaving objections from countries like Poland, the Czech
Republic, Slovakia and Sweden (and maybe The Netherlands) to
a separate "reservations" section. Our message to the
Europeans and to media should be similar to what MBR and the
other dissidents are saying:

-- We are happy for those that are released.

-- There are still 280 political prisoners in Cuba who should
be released immediately.

-- Neither the 280 still imprisoned, nor the six who were
just released (seven, if you count Antunez) should ever have
been arrested in the first place.

-- New arrests and detentions without due process are
evidence that nothing fundamental has changed in the nature
of Cuba's police-state regime.
PARMLY