MURDER OF SECOND SPANISH PRIEST CAUSES COMMOTION

C O N F I D E N T I A L HAVANA 000445

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/17/2019
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINS CU
SUBJECT: MURDER OF SECOND SPANISH PRIEST CAUSES COMMOTION

REF: HAVANA 145

Classified By: COM Jonathan Farrar for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: A second brutal murder of a Spanish catholic
priest in five months has become a cause celebre in Cuba in
spite of receiving no press coverage locally until Sunday,
July 19. Rampant rumors in the Cuban public and
international press about the cases may have prompted the GOC
to publish a statement by the Archdiocese of Havana on that
date that purports to clarify the situation. Typical GOC lack
of transparency makes an accurate judgment on the cases
almost impossible, however. End Summary


2. (SBU) The brutal murder on July 13 of a Spanish Roman
Catholic priest, Fr. Mariano Arroyo, five months to the day
after the very similar murder of Fr. Eduardo De la Fuente
(REFTEL) generated enough public concern in Cuba (in spite of
the fact that it was never reported in the local press) that
the GOC published a statement from the Archdiocese of Havana
in the Sunday edition of Juventud Rebelde. The statement
provides very little information except to say that the
police had made an arrest in the Arroyo case and that there
were no links between the Arroyo murder and that of de la
Fuente. That conclusion was reportedly based on a confession
by a suspect in the de la Fuente case.


3. (C) Even though there had been no press coverage of the
Arroyo murder (there had never been any reports of the De la
Fuente murder either),word spread rapidly around Havana.
The fact that Arroyo, a popular priest who worked in a parish
in the poor district of Regla in the eastern part of Havana,
was murdered exactly five months after another Spanish priest
who also worked in one of Havana's marginal neighborhoods
(Lawton),and was reportedly found stabbed, strangled and
burned as in the previous case, had "Radio Bemba," the Cuban
rumor mill, humming. That there had never been any apparent
progress in the De la Fuente case added to the level of
speculation. In several conversations with our Spanish
embassy colleagues over the past five months we were told
that they had heard nothing from Cuban authorities about
possible suspects in the De la Fuente murder. Likewise, even
after the statement by the Archdiocese had been made public,
the Spanish Political Counselor told Pol-Econ chief that his
Embassy had received no communications from the GOC on the
issue. At the same time, the Spanish PolCouns expressed
doubt about the arrest of suspects. Pol-Econ chief also
spoke after the Archdiocesan statement was made public with
Fr. Jose Felix Perez Riera (please protect) the Executive
Secretary of the Cuban Bishop's Conference. Perez Riera
responded cautiously that he hoped that some progress could
be made in resolving both cases, but left the impression that
he too had doubts about the "suspects" in custody.


4. (C) COMMENT: Though one would not know it by reading the
local press, murder in Cuba--and especially in the marginal
neighborhoods of Havana--is not that rare. However, the very
similar murder of two priests Clearly generated a new level
of concern in the populace. Not surprisingly, the GOC's lack
of transparency added fuel to the fire. It is noteworthy and
indicative of the level of unrest caused by the murders that
Cuban authorities decided to make the Archdiocesan statement
public. The structure of the language in the statement
indicates that the GOC may have been involved in drafting it.
It remains to be seen if the publication will accomplish its
apparent goal of tamping down public concern. If it does
not, the GOC may be forced to open up even more and provide
information on the alleged perpetrators and the conduct of
the investigations that led to their arrests.
FARRAR