Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08HAVANA333
2008-04-21 20:13:00
CONFIDENTIAL
US Interests Section Havana
Cable title:  

POLICE BREAK UP SIT DOWN STRIKE BY LADIES IN WHITE

Tags:  CU PGOV PHUM PINR PREL 
pdf how-to read a cable
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C O R R E C T E D COPY DELETING SECSTATE AS INFO ADDEE

DEPT FOR WHA/CCA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/20/2017
TAGS: CU PGOV PHUM PINR PREL
SUBJECT: POLICE BREAK UP SIT DOWN STRIKE BY LADIES IN WHITE


Classified By: COM: Michael E. Parmly : For reasons 1.4 b/d

C O N F I D E N T I A L HAVANA 000333

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C O R R E C T E D COPY DELETING SECSTATE AS INFO ADDEE

DEPT FOR WHA/CCA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/20/2017
TAGS: CU PGOV PHUM PINR PREL
SUBJECT: POLICE BREAK UP SIT DOWN STRIKE BY LADIES IN WHITE


Classified By: COM: Michael E. Parmly : For reasons 1.4 b/d


1. (C) Summary: Beginning at about 6:30 AM on April 21, ten
members of the Cuban human rights organization, Ladies in
White (Damas de Blanco),held a sit down protest in a small
park close to Havana's Revolution Square. The Damas demanded
the unconditional release of the 55 political prisoners who
have been incarcerated since the massive crackdown on
pro-democracy activists in 2003. After three hours, an
officer from the Ministry of the Interior told the Damas to
disperse. When they refused, police picked them up from the
ground and shove them into a bus. All participants in the
protest were driven back to their homes. USINT Human Rights
Officer visited Damas spokesperson Laura Pollan this
afternoon in her home. He observed bruises on her body that
Pollan said were inflicted when police roughly grabbed her.
Pollan stated that with much being said about Raul Castro
promoting change, nothing has changed in terms of repression
against her organization and there have been no improvements
in the condition of the political prisoners. End summary.


2. (C) USINT Human Rights Officer visited Laura Pollan,
spokesperson for Damas de Blanco, this afternoon in her home
to discuss this morning's forceful disperal by police of a
Damas protest in Havana's Plaza de la Revolucion. Pollan had
participated in the morning's protest; she was joined in her
home by another Damas protester, Berta de los Angeles Soler
Hernandez. Pollan told Pol off that the organization had been
planning a demonstration in the Square - home to numerous
government ministries - for some time. (Pollan had been
hinting for weeks about a planned action in the
highly-symbolic Revolution Square.) The last time the Damas
held a protest in that location was in October of 2004, when
they staged a 41 hour vigil. Pollan stated that the
organization has recently filed several petitions with the
Ministry of the Interior and the Council of State demanding

the unconditional release of the political prisoners to which
the government has not responded. The Damas felt that it was
time to hold a public protest in a high visibility location
and chose early Monday morning as a time when state security
would not expect such an action.


3. (SBU) According to Pollan at 6:30 AM on April 21, ten
members of the organization sat in a circle in a park just
off Revolution Square. The ten participants were: Laura
Pollan de Toledo, wife of political prisoner Hector Maseda;
Berta de los Angeles Soler Hernandez, wife of Angel Moya;
Dolia Leal Francisco, wife of Nelson Aguiar; Noelia Pedraza
Jimenez, wife of Ariel Sigler; Alejandrina Garcia de la Riva,
wife of Diosdado Marrero; Tania Morejon from Matanzas;
Barbara Jimenez Apoyo, mother of Noelia; Maria del Carmen;
Juana Gomez and a person named Olga whose last name Pollan
did not know. The last three were acquaintances of Noelia
from the city of Santa Clara and are supporters of the
organization rather than members.


4. (C) The Damas sat quietly for nearly three hours; they
had agreed not to hold any placards or make speeches or chant
slogans. At about 9:15 AM a Colonel Samper (the regular
"senior watcher" of the Damas, who know him well) from the
Ministry of the Interior ordered them to disperse. The Damas
refused. Pollan and Soler told HR Officer that 20 uniformed
female police officers surrounded the group. At the same
time, about sixty workers from the nearby National Library,
Ministry of Communications and the Bus Terminal confronted
the Damas shouting insults such as "worms," "terrorists," and
"mercenaries." Pollan said that large numbers of
plainclothes state security agents were on scene and that the
workers had obviously been organized by them.


5. (C) Initially, two female officers were assigned to lift
each protester off the ground. The Damas sat with locked arms
shouting "liberty". Pollan said that most of the protesters
were bruised from being grabbed and otherwise manhandled.
She showed several circular bruises on her shoulders,
forearms and fingers that resulted from these actions. Soler
said that she had pain in her arms and shoulders. Four
female police officers were engaged in lifting each person
off the ground. In the cases of Soler and Pedraza, the
police were still not able to remove them and had to enlist
the help of male police officers. All of the protesters were
pushed into buses and driven to their homes. The Damas had
alerted the press in advance of the protest and the incident
was witnessed and photographed by several members of Havana's
international press corps. To date no charges have been
brought as the result of the incident.


6. (C) Pollan stressed that at a time when the international
press is reporting that the government of Raul Castro is
promoting change, the Damas wanted to show that the situation
of the political prisoners is dire. Many of their political
prisoner relatives are severely ill and do not receive
adequate medical care. Pollan said that when governments
talk of making accommodations with Raul's government, they
should not forget the people in prison unjustly. She said
that the police actions show that the government still exerts
repression against peaceful protesters.


7. (C) Comment: The actions of the GOC in repressing a
quiet and peaceful protest is an indication of the
limitations of the much publicized reforms of Raul Castro.
Pollan urged USINT to place the news of this incident on its
electronic billboard (which we will) and would appreciate any
signs of support from the US government (we urge Washington
to consider making a statement).
PARMLY