Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07HAVANA685
2007-07-19 12:40:00
CONFIDENTIAL
US Interests Section Havana
Cable title:
CUBA: DISSIDENT DAGOBERTO VALDES REAPPEARS
how-toVZCZCXRO7428 RR RUEHAG RUEHROV DE RUEHUB #0685 2001240 ZNY CCCCC ZZH R 191240Z JUL 07 FM USINT HAVANA TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1998 INFO RUEHWH/WESTERN HEMISPHERIC AFFAIRS DIPL POSTS RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE RUEHROV/AMEMBASSY VATICAN 0137 RUEHSW/AMEMBASSY BERN 0157 RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0152 RUCOGCA/COMNAVBASE GUANTANAMO BAY CU RUMIAAA/USCINCSO MIAMI FL RUESDM/JTLO MIAMI FL RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
C O N F I D E N T I A L HAVANA 000685
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/19/2017
TAGS: SOCI PHUM CU
SUBJECT: CUBA: DISSIDENT DAGOBERTO VALDES REAPPEARS
REF: HAVANA 677
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Robert Blau; Reasons 1.4 (b/d)
C O N F I D E N T I A L HAVANA 000685
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/19/2017
TAGS: SOCI PHUM CU
SUBJECT: CUBA: DISSIDENT DAGOBERTO VALDES REAPPEARS
REF: HAVANA 677
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Robert Blau; Reasons 1.4 (b/d)
1. (C) Dissident Church lay leader Dagoberto Valdes appeared
out of the blue in Havana July 18, and met with Charge at a
Polish Embassy reception. Valdes said he and the staff that
worked with him in the Pinar del Rio "Center for Civic and
Religious Training" are all no longer involved in any
capacity with that activity, with "Vitral" Magazine, or with
Bishop Serpa based in Pinar del Rio. Serpa, he said, was at
the extreme pro-regime end of the spectrum; his having
replaced the more free-thinking Bishop Siro in April was
"purely a political maneuver by Cardinal Jaime Ortega," who
Valdes also asserts is in bed with the Cuban regime. Valdes
added that the Vatican defers its Cuba policy to Ortega,
which he said was not always the case during John Paul II's
papacy.
2. (C) Valdes himself looked healthy and said he was in good
spirits. Although cut off from his Church-based dissident
activities, as well as internet access, he stays busy with
private charitable works. He reported being the object of
regime espionage and harassment, which was nothing new, but
harder to deal with now that he has lost Bishop Siro's cover.
He missed editing "Vitral" magazine, and observed that the
new editorial management would neuter its message.
3. (C) Comment: We saw the first post-Dagoberto "Vitral"
magazine a few weeks ago and it clearly lacks the sparkle and
daring it had previously. As we reported last week in
reference to the Latin American Bishops Conference meeting in
Havana, the Church in Cuba is trapped into a modus vivendi
with the regime that limits the space available for free
thinking. As such, religious faith and the religious
teachings of the Church provide inspiration for dissidents
and change agents, but the Church itself is not a change
agent.
BLAU
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/19/2017
TAGS: SOCI PHUM CU
SUBJECT: CUBA: DISSIDENT DAGOBERTO VALDES REAPPEARS
REF: HAVANA 677
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Robert Blau; Reasons 1.4 (b/d)
1. (C) Dissident Church lay leader Dagoberto Valdes appeared
out of the blue in Havana July 18, and met with Charge at a
Polish Embassy reception. Valdes said he and the staff that
worked with him in the Pinar del Rio "Center for Civic and
Religious Training" are all no longer involved in any
capacity with that activity, with "Vitral" Magazine, or with
Bishop Serpa based in Pinar del Rio. Serpa, he said, was at
the extreme pro-regime end of the spectrum; his having
replaced the more free-thinking Bishop Siro in April was
"purely a political maneuver by Cardinal Jaime Ortega," who
Valdes also asserts is in bed with the Cuban regime. Valdes
added that the Vatican defers its Cuba policy to Ortega,
which he said was not always the case during John Paul II's
papacy.
2. (C) Valdes himself looked healthy and said he was in good
spirits. Although cut off from his Church-based dissident
activities, as well as internet access, he stays busy with
private charitable works. He reported being the object of
regime espionage and harassment, which was nothing new, but
harder to deal with now that he has lost Bishop Siro's cover.
He missed editing "Vitral" magazine, and observed that the
new editorial management would neuter its message.
3. (C) Comment: We saw the first post-Dagoberto "Vitral"
magazine a few weeks ago and it clearly lacks the sparkle and
daring it had previously. As we reported last week in
reference to the Latin American Bishops Conference meeting in
Havana, the Church in Cuba is trapped into a modus vivendi
with the regime that limits the space available for free
thinking. As such, religious faith and the religious
teachings of the Church provide inspiration for dissidents
and change agents, but the Church itself is not a change
agent.
BLAU