HUMAN RIGHTS ROUND-UP, JULY 5- JULY 18

C O N F I D E N T I A L HAVANA 000574 SIPDIS DEPT FOR WHA/CCA E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/17/2017 TAGS: CU PGOV PHUM PINR PREL SUBJECT: HUMAN RIGHTS ROUND-UP, JULY 5- JULY 18 Classified By: COM: Jonathan Farrar For reasons 1.4 b/d ¶1. (SBU) LARGE SCALE DETENTIONS TO STOP COMMEMORATIONS OF TUGBOAT SINKING. Noted dissident leader, Francisco Chavianao, asked for official permission to hold in Havana a demonstration commemorating the sinking on July 13, 1994 of the tugboat 13 de Marzo. (Several individuals had seized the boat hoping to commandeer it to the US. Forty-two people drowned when a Cuban patrol boat deliberately rammed the vessel. At 6:00 PM on July 12 state security forces picked up Chaviano and held him at a police station until 4:00 PM on July 13. Human rights groups reported that police detained on July 12 at least five other activists in the Havana area who were planning on attending the demonstration. There were also reports of four people detained in Guatanamo overnight to prevent them from organizing a local demonstrations. Police stopped on the highway in Santiago de las Vegas eight dissidents and detained them for several hours. Dissidents also reported that security forces prohibited activists in Villa Clara, Cienfuegos and Pinar del Rio from leaving their homes. On July 13 police in San Juan y Martinez, Province of Pinar del Rio stopped and detained for five hours five people who were marching to throw flowers in the river. Despite widespread efforts by police and security forces to prevent any demonstrations, small commemorations took place in Villa Clara, Sancti Spiritus, Holguin and Havana, although in the case of Havana it appears that protesters only quickly threw a floral wreath into the harbor. All of those detained have been released without charges. ¶2. (C) POLITICAL PRISONER GIVEN A 48 HOUR PASS. On July 3 prison officials in Santiago de Cuba gave Luis Milan Fernandez, one of the 75 dissidents jailed in a massive crackdown in 2003, a 48 hour pass to visit his family. This is the first time this has been known to have been granted to one of the "75'ers" in the absence of a family emergency, such as the funeral of a close family member. Laura Pollan, spokesperson for the organization, Damas de Blanco, told poloff in her opinion this was due to the fact that the family of Milan never has had anything to do with Damas de Blanco. Pollan feels that this is a deliberate attempt by the government to spread the message that families will be rewarded for staying away from the Damas and their protest activities. ¶3. (SBU) INDEPENDENT LIBRARY RAIDED. Nereyda Rodriguez Rivero of Campo Florida, Province of Havana, who had participated on November 27, 2007 in a video-conference with first Lady Laura Bush, reported during the first week of July that police confiscated all the materials in her independent library. FARRAR