USINT HOSTS SUCCESSFUL 4TH OF JULY EVENT IN SPITE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HAVANA 000521

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/06/2013
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM CU
SUBJECT: USINT HOSTS SUCCESSFUL 4TH OF JULY EVENT IN SPITE
OF OFFICIAL OBSTACLES

REF: A. HAVANA 518

B. HAVANA 515

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Classified By: COM Michael E. Parmly for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: In spite of an unprecedented effort to
reduce attendance by the GOC, USINT hosted a successful 4th
of July reception that attracted 626 guests from civil
society, the press, religious organizations and the
diplomatic corps. Many civil society members from outside
Havana were prevented from attending, as were virtually all
of the artists, intellectuals and musicians. The GOC mounted
a significant (and likely costly) island-wide effort to limit
attendance at the 4th of July event, but succeeded only
partially. Hats off go to the Cubans themselves who applied
their customary ingenuity to slip around the GOC blockade and
attend the reception. End Summary

Havana Civil Society Well Represented...
--------------


2. (C) In the face of extraordinary efforts of state
security to warn away civil society members and dissidents
(ref A),all of the major figures in the dissident movement
attended with the exception of Jorge Luis Garcia Perez
(Antunez),who was under virtual house arrest in his home
town of Placetas. Nevertheless, Antunez called to offer his
regrets for not attending. Though many dissident and civil
society activists attended, including a solid representation
from the Damas de Blanco, almost all of them were from the
Havana area. The GOC succeeded in detaining or otherwise
impeding the movement of most civil society members from
outside the city of Havana. Even those who were able to
attend had to run a gauntlet of security in the neighborhoods
and in the area around the chief of mission residence (COMR).


3. (C) Liberal party leader Francisco Chaviano said he had
been held for several hours following his detention on July
3, and strictly instructed not to attend the USINT event, but
came anyway. Former 75er Roberto de Miranda and his wife
reported that state security had entered their residence in
Central Havana overnight and detained several visitors who
had been staying with them. Though they did not yet know
what had happened to these individuals, and though both are
in poor health themselves, they made a point of getting to
the COMR for the 4th of July event. Martha Beatriz Roque
(MBR) reported that approximately 72 dissidents had been
detained in all, and she had been warned by her principal
state security minder not to attend. Notably, at one point
she and prominent dissident Oswaldo Paya could be seen
holding a spirited discussion with Spanish Ambassador Carlos
Alonso Zaldivar, no doubt concerning the EU's decision to
lift its sanctions against Cuba.

...But Others Prevented from Attending
--------------


4. (C) While Havana-based civil society groups were fairly
well represented, very few from outside Havana made it. The
most notable exception was religious writer Dagoberto Valdes
and his Convivencia group from Pinar del Rio. However, they
had been in Havana for several days before the reception.
According to dissident leaders, others who attempted to
travel were detained, removed from buses, and had airplane
reservations canceled.


5. (C) The arts and intellectual communities were very
poorly represented. We heard from several artists that they
had been warned away in the same manner as had occurred
earlier in the week on the occasion of the Robert
Rauschenberg virtual art exhibit. Prominent classical
guitarist Luis Manuel Molina reported that his boss at the
Havana classical music station informed him Friday afternoon
that she was aware he had been invited to the 4th of July
event and that he would be fired if he attended.

Unusual Efforts Made to Hold Down Attendance
--------------


6. (C) In addition to threatening invitees with detention
or job loss if they were to attend, the GOC also closed
several blocks around the COMR and would not allow anyone
without diplomatic license plates to enter. Even some of
USINT's LCN employees coming in to work at the event were

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prevented from entering the area. Fortunately, although the
GOC net was impressive, it was still porous, and many
individuals succeeded in slipping past the police patrols.
Mostly for logistical reasons unrelated to this particular
crackdown (the COMR is located far from normal public
transportation routes),USINT instituted a shuttle service
using USINT vehicles to transport invitees from a central
point to the event and then to return them to public
transportation centers after the reception ended. This
arrangement probably allowed the vast majority of the civil
society members who attended to avoid being caught up in the
police blockade around the COMR.


7. COMMENT: Following the threatening MINREX statement on
USINT activities (ref B),we were not too surprised to see
the GOC take some sort of measures to shut down the 4th of
July event. The extent of the effort was, nonetheless,
noteworthy. One prominent dissident commented on the costs
of having approximately 50 people involved in round the clock
surveillance on each house or individual throughout the
country, to say nothing of the large police presence in
Havana for the event itself. To a certain extent the GOC
effort succeeded. We had invited 1,800 people to the
reception and expected that attendance could have reached

1000. However, while the GOC expended great time and effort
to keep the 4th of July reception a non-event, the level of
participation, especially among civil society, was
impressive. The 626 who attended was only marginally fewer
than the number who attended in 2007. For that success we
have to thank the ingenuity of our Cuban contacts, many of
whom braved genuine risks to their personal safety to come to
a cocktail party. Their perseverance turned what could
otherwise have been a disappointing evening into a display of
respect the U.S. and what it stands for, and a victory for
Cuban civil society.

PARMLY