BURMA: HELPING PHYU PHYU THIN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RANGOON 001191

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/18/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM BM KHIV EAID SOCI
SUBJECT: BURMA: HELPING PHYU PHYU THIN

REF: A. RANGOON 1178


B. RANGOON 1153

C. RANGOON 744

D. RANGOON 742

E. 06 RANGOON 1170

RANGOON 00001191 001.2 OF 002


Classified By: P/E Chief Leslie Hayden for Reasons 1.4 (b) & (d)


1. (C) Summary: HIV/AIDS activist and NLD youth member Phyu
Phyu Thin does not want to come out of hiding, contrary to
Ref A. She believes she would be quickly arrested and unable
to assist her patients. Phyu Phyu Thin's patients are in
desperate need of quick funding in order to continue their
Anti Retroviral Therapy. Post recommends USG funding be
approved on an urgent basis (see action request in paragraph
7). End summary.


2. (C) Pol/econ chief met with HIV/AIDS activist Phyu Phyu
Thin who is in hiding from the authorities. Pol/econ chief
requested the meeting with Phyu Phyu Thin to clarify
conflicting reports we had received regarding Phyu Phyu
Thin's wishes to come out of hiding to help her HIV/AIDS
patients (Ref A). Since its inception, the regime has
harassed Phyu Phyu Thin's organization, Friends of the Red
Ribbon, because of its affiliation with the NLD's HIV/AIDS
Prevention and Care Committee, and because many high-profile
88 Generation Students leaders are also members of her
organization (Ref E).


3. (C) Phyu Phyu Thin told us that she does not want to come
out of hiding, but is desperately worried about the forty-one
HIV/AIDS patients that her NGO assists in obtaining Anti
Retroviral (ARV) medication. Phyu Phyu Thin said that she
would likely be arrested as soon as she emerged from hiding
and would be unable to assist her patients in any case. Many
of her patients were from outside of Rangoon and had been
sheltered at the Maggin Monastery that the regime recently
ordered closed (Ref B). Thirty patients are staying at two
houses in South Dagon Township and the remaining ten are
spread out throughout Rangoon. Phyu Phyu Thin's close friend
and assistant, Yar Zar, is currently looking after the
patients and trying to find funding for them to continue
their ARV medication that will run out at the end of December.


4. (C) Last January, when MSF Holland (AZG) stopped
providing ARV therapy for new patients due to lack of
funding, Phyu Phyu Thin and her organization began funding
and distributing ARV therapy to her patients under the
supervision of a sympathetic government doctor (Ref D). Once
ARV treatment is initiated, it must be continued to avoid the
possibility that a drug-resistant strain of the virus could
develop, which would endanger effective ARV therapy for all
HIV/AIDS patients. Yar Zar has been approaching various NGOs
requesting assistance but has not yet been able to secure
adequate funding to continue the treatment for all of the
patients.


5. (C) Although the NLD "uncles" and Dr. Tin Myo Win (ASSK's
doctor) claim to fund (and often take credit for) Phyu Phyu
Thin's activities, we have heard from numerous pro-democracy
activists involved in assisting HIV/AIDS patients that her
organization receives almost no money from the NLD or Dr. Tin
Myo Win. Phyu Phyu Thin is growing increasingly frustrated
by reports that donations, both foreign and domestic, are
solicited in the name of her organization, but the patients
never see any of the money. Dr. Tin Myo Win recently claimed
to poloff that he had raised $3,000 for Friends of the Red
Ribbon over the last two months. Phyu Phyu Thin told
pol/econ chief yesterday that her organization had received
none of this money.


6. (C). We also understand that NLD Spokesman U Myint Thein
may have been instructed by the Uncles to convince Phyu Phyu
Thin to come out of hiding precisely so she would be arrested
in order to prevent her from continuing her activities, which
the Uncles feel puts the NLD at risk.

RANGOON 00001191 002.2 OF 002




7. (C) Action Request: Post believes there is an urgent
need to provide quick, adequate, and consistent funding for
ARV therapy for Phyu Phyu Thin's patients. We will contact
AZG, UNAIDS, and the Three Diseases Fund to explore possible
avenues for delivering the medications to them. However,
they will likely need additional funding or the medications
to handle the increased patient load. Post strongly
recommends quick action by Washington to provide Post the
necessary funding for medications. By so doing, we would be
supporting an organization closely affiliated with the
pro-democracy movement that provides the healthcare services
the Than Shwe regime neglects. This also bolsters the local
organization's image to the public. ACTION REQUEST: Please
advise if we will be able to be responsive to this request
from a heroine of the pro-democracy movement.


8. (C) Comment: The increasing disarray in the
pro-democracy movement caused by the Than Shwe regime's
crackdown is revealing some of the ugly secrets inside the
pro-democracy movement, which offers some insight into why
change has been so difficult to achieve in Burma. The
pro-democracy movement has never been unified, as can be seen
by the numerous organizations inside and outside of Burma.
The NLD Uncles, former generals under the Ne Win regime, are
in their 80s and in ill health. They have long tried to
stifle the desires of younger NLD members to be more active.
They have expelled many members and recently tried to expel
labor activist Su Su Nwe, for thwarting their orders to stay
quiet and do nothing. While younger members still revere
Aung San Suu Kyi, and look to her as a unifying figure, this
same respect does not transfer to the Uncles. Min Ko Naing
and the 88 Generation Students were able to tap into the
growing impatience with the Uncles to unify the students and
younger NLD members to revitalize the pro-democracy movement
over the past year. But now those unifiers have been
arrested and the Uncles are trying to reassert their
authority even if it means that NLD members such as Phyu Phyu
Thin Go to prison. The Uncles are effectively doing Than
Shwe's bidding. This is why our support for the younger
generation who want change now is so very critical at this
time. End comment.
VILLAROSA