Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08HAVANA493
2008-06-25 18:52:00
CONFIDENTIAL
US Interests Section Havana
Cable title:  

CUBAN DISSIDENTS FACE PROSECUTION

Tags:  CU PGOV PHUM PINR PREL 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO3181
OO RUEHAO RUEHCD RUEHGA RUEHGD RUEHHA RUEHHO RUEHMC RUEHMT RUEHNG
RUEHNL RUEHQU RUEHRD RUEHRG RUEHRS RUEHTM RUEHVC
DE RUEHUB #0493 1771852
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 251852Z JUN 08
FM USINT HAVANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3421
INFO RUEHWH/WESTERN HEMISPHERIC AFFAIRS DIPL POSTS IMMEDIATE
RUCOGCA/NAVSTA GUANTANAMO BAY CU IMMEDIATE
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RHMFISS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RHMFISS/HQ USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL IMMEDIATE
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUCOWCV/CCGDSEVEN MIAMI FL IMMEDIATE
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3422
C O N F I D E N T I A L HAVANA 000493 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR WHA/CCA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/23/2017
TAGS: CU PGOV PHUM PINR PREL
SUBJECT: CUBAN DISSIDENTS FACE PROSECUTION

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 000493

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR WHA/CCA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/23/2017
TAGS: CU PGOV PHUM PINR PREL
SUBJECT: CUBAN DISSIDENTS FACE PROSECUTION

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


1. (C) Summary: Led by Jorge Luis Garcia Perez
("Antunez"),on June 20 six protesters delivered a letter of
protest against the maltreatment of a prisoner to the
Provincial Office of the Ministry of the Interior in the city
of Matanzas. As they were sitting on a bench, they were
accosted by members of the police and state security. The
protesters report that the officials brutally beat them with
fists and shoved them in a police wagon. They were held at a
local jail for several hours. Police at 01:30 AM dropped off
Antunez and his wife, who had lost her shoes during the
arrest, almost a mile from their home in the city of
Placetas. One of the demonstrators was hospitalized as the
result of injuries inflicted by the police. Notably, the six
were formally charged by the police in the incident and could
face jail time for their activities. End summary.


2. (C) On June 19 Jorge Luis Garcia Perez ("Antunez") and
his wife Iris Perez Aguilera tried to deliver to the Office
of Prisons in Havana a letter of protesting the mistreatment
of Iris's brother, Mario Perez Aguilera, who is incarcerated
in the city of Matanzas. He had declared a hunger strike
after claiming to have been beaten in prison. The Office of
Prisons refused to accept the letter. The next day Antunez,
Iris and four supporters presented the letter to the
Provincial Office of the Ministry of the Interior in Matanzas
and an official in charge of prisons received the letter.
Antunez and his wife together with four others sat down on a
bench close to the Ministry as a form of protest. The others
involved were: Benito Ortega Suarez, Idania Yanes Contreras,
Yesmi Elena Mena Zurbano and Blas Fortun Martinas.


3. (C) Within five minutes vehicles containing 14
plain-clothes officials and three uniformed officers arrived.
According to the demonstrators, the officials immediately
began hitting all of the protesters and put several in
strangle holds. Antunez's wife stated that police beat her
while she was on the ground. She lost her shoes in the
scuffle. The official shoved the protesters into a patrol
wagon. In the process, a window of the wagon was smashed.
Antunez said that he kicked the walls of the wagon shouting,
"Long live Human Rights," but denies breaking the window.
Antunez said that the police beat him in the face in the
wagon as he attempted to shout out to passers-by.


4. (C) At the local jail, officials told the protesters
that they were being indicted for disrespect to the Chief of
State, resisting arrest, and, in the case of Antunez.
destroying government property, a reference to the broken
window of the police van. The protesters were released
around midnight. At about 01:30 AM police dropped off
Antunez and his wife, Iris, who was barefoot, nearly a mile
from their home in the city of Placetas. Yanes Contreras
went to the hospital after having blood in her urine, and
remains hospitalized. Antunez and his wife have since
declared a hunger strike to protest the incident, as well as
the decision of the European Union to end sanctions on Cuba.


5. (C) Comment: This is the first time in close to a year
that the GOC moved to initiate criminal procedures against
protesters. Previously, the authorities were content simply
to break up the demonstration and escort the participants
home. It is not clear whether this indicates a tendency to
crack down more forcefully on dissidents, or whether the
authorities decided that they had to act specifically against
Antunez, who has been detained on a regular basis for
organizing marches.
PARMLY