RIGHTS REPORT SHOWS DETENTIONS RISE WHILE NUMBER

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HAVANA 000663

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR WHA/CCA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/14/2017
TAGS: CU PGOV PHUM PINR PREL
SUBJECT: RIGHTS REPORT SHOWS DETENTIONS RISE WHILE NUMBER
OF POLITICAL PRISONERS DROPS

Classified By: COM: Jonathan Farrar For reasons 1.4 b/d


1. (C) Summary. On August 12, the Cuban Commission for
Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCHRNR) released
its report for the first six months of 2008. This is the
most thoroughly researched of any report done within Cuba
about the conditions of political prisoners on the island.
The report shows the number of political prisoners dropping
slightly from 234 to 219 since January 2008. Beyond the fact
that the GOC allows no independent monitoring of its prison
system, there are many difficulties in the task of counting
Cuba's political prisoners. There are very large differences
in the methods employed by the various human rights groups.
CCHRNR believes that in the last year the GOC has increased
repression but now avoids political trials and the issuing of
long sentences. Instead it effectively crushes dissent
through the use of surveillance and short term detentions.
The CCHRNR believes the GOC has successfully sent out "false
signals" to many members of the international community that
the human rights situation has improved. End summary.


2. (C) Elizardo Sanchez, the director of the Cuban
Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation
(CCHRNR),readily acknowledges that it is impossible to come
up with an exact number of Cuba's political prisoners because
the GOC allows no independent national or international
organization to have access to its massive system of jails,
penitentiaries and work camps. However, in the report for
the first six months of 2008, released on August 12, CCHRNR
shows the number of political prisoners fell to 219 from the
234 listed in the report for January 2008. Another Cuban
based organization, the Council of Human Rights of Cuba, run
by Margarito Broche and Juan Carlos Leyva, which typically
does not scrutinize information as closely as CCHRNR, in its
annual report released July 22, 2008 came up with the even
lower figure of 168 political prisoners currently
incarcerated. Almost all of the releases that occurred were
due to the fact that the person served the entire sentence.


3. (C) Sanchez told pol off of the many difficulties in
counting Cuba's political prisoners. Other than the 67
prisoners, 10 of whom are out on conditional release, that
Amnesty International has adopted as prisoners of conscience,
there is no general agreement on who should be considered a
political prisoner. CCHRNR's most controversial decision is
to include people convicted of either illegal possession of
arms or plotting violent acts. This constitutes about 5% of
the prisoners on CCHRNR's list. These convictions date back
to the 1990's and earlier and include, for example, a
Salvadoran convicted in a series of hotel bombings that
killed an Italian tourist.


4. (C) Sanchez cautioned that nearly all of the people on
the list who were convicted of terrorism had nothing to do
with violent acts. He gave as an example several people from
Pinar del Rio convicted for terrorism who were only caught
trying to swim out to a boat in order to escape to the US.
Sanchez also said that CCHRNR investigates many cases where
the people claimed that, although they were convicted of a
crime not considered a political offense, Cuban authorities
fabricated the charges for political reasons. Sanchez said
that it is very difficult to substantiate such claims. This
is especially difficult with the estimated 5000 to 10,000
Cubans in jail for petty economic crimes such as unauthorized
street vending or picking things out of the trash. Most
people just receive fines in such cases, and prosecutions are
obviously selective, but it is very difficult to prove that a
specific case was politically motivated. Included on the
list are several people convicted of attempted illegal
departure from the country who received disproportionate
sentences of up to 12 years. CCHRNR believes that these long
sentences were politically motivated.


4. (C) Another issue is the estimated 4000 to 5000 people
serving time under the law of "dangerousness". This laws
allows sentences of up to four years on a judgment that a
person has the capacity to commit a crime or an anti-social
act. No proof is required beyond a declaration by the local
chief of police. The trial is a summary judgment rendered
quickly and the defendant is not allowed legal representation

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during the proceeding. Although these persons are innocent
of any specific crime, CCHRNR does not list such cases as
political prisoners unless the person is a member of a
recognized opposition organization. The majority of those
convicted under this statute are not politically involved. A
typical case is a youth who refuses to work because of the
low salaries, or someone who has mouthed off to a local
police chief or to a member of the local Committee for the
Defense of the Revolution. Therefore, it is often a "crime"
of attitude rather than opinion. Sanchez stated that the law
is increasingly used against dissidents, so that a person who
does something like write "Down with Castro", is now
typically charged with "dangerousness." In the past, they
were charged with offenses, such as disrespect for the
national leaders, that carried much heavier penalties,


5. (C) Sanchez said that in terms of suppressing dissent and
silencing protests, repression has actually gone up
considerably. However, the government has changed tactics
and avoids political trials and condemning persons to lengthy
prison terms. He stated that surveillance and the arbitrary
searches of homes and persons in the street has increased
greatly. However, the government relies on short term
detentions where typically a person is held for a few hours
or a few days to prevent the attendance at a protest or a
meeting, and then is released without charges. He stated
that in the first six months of 2008, the CCHRNR documented
640 such detentions, already close the double the number
recorded for all of 2007. Sanchez believes that the number
is higher because it doesn't include a lot of cases where the
police took persons into custody and then immediately drove
them to their homes.


6. (C) Comment: Sanchez said that in his opinion the GOC
has been very successful at sending "false signals" to the
countries that the GOC wishes to placate on the issue of
human rights. In Sanchez's opinion, these are the EU, Mexico
and Brazil. He said that as long as the number of political
prisoners dwindles, these countries are going view that there
have been "improvements". Sanchez feels that the complete
suppression of basic liberties is not going to attract much
condemnation, as long as it is done by means other than
heavily publicized political trials and long sentences.
Sanchez also thinks that the GOC is cynically thinking that
there will soon be achieved a "tolerable " number of
political prisoners so that if the above named countries
express objections, it will be very mild objections. Cuban
dissidents are struggling with the problem of convincing the
international community that the human rights situation is
not improving, but in fact in some ways is worsening.

FARRAR