BLOGGERS BEATEN BUT NOT DETERRED

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HAVANA 000684 SIPDIS DEPT FOR WHA/CCA E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/23/2019 TAGS: PREL PHUM PGOV CU SUBJECT: BLOGGERS BEATEN BUT NOT DETERRED REF: HAVANA 629 ("CUBAN BLOGGER SPOILING FOR A FIGHT") HAVANA 00000684 001.2 OF 002 Classified By: Poloff Joaquin Monserrate for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY. Cuba's most famous bloggers were detained and roughed up by GOC agents as they traveled on foot to a public event on November 6. Plainclothes officials intercepted bloggers Yoani Sanchez, Claudia Cadelo, Orlando Luis Pardo and another person on a sidewalk, forced them into cars and drove them away. All were released shortly thereafter. Sanchez tried to resist the arrest, and was beaten. She is recovering at home, where she received USINT poloffs. This was the first time that any of them had been detained or beaten, and it is uncertain if the GOC intends to take further actions against Cuba's emerging blogging community. END SUMMARY. CUBAN BLOGGERS DETAINED AND ROUGHED UP -------------- ¶2. (C) Cuban bloggers Yoani Sanchez, Claudia Caudelo, Orlando Luis Pardo and Pardo's girlfriend were detained by state security agents on November 6, as they made their way on foot to a public march against violence, which they intended to cover. According to Sanchez's account to USINT, unidentified men in an unmarked car stopped the group on a public sidewalk and ordered Sanchez to get in the car. Sanchez refused and demanded identification. When the agents continued to insist, the group began to yell that they were being kidnapped. One of the state security agents made a phone call to report that the group was refusing to comply. After his conversation, the agents physically forced Sanchez and Pardo into the car. ¶3. (C) Once in the car, Pardo was pinned down by an agent who held him in a head lock, while Sanchez was thrown violently onto the floor of the vehicle. The agent knelt on her chest and applied his full weight, crushing the air from her lungs, while the others rained blows on her. Sanchez said that she felt she might not survive the attack and in desperation she reached out and grabbed her assailant by the testicles, causing him to shout, &You,re hurting me.8 She responded by yelling, &you are crushing my chest,8 at which point the apparent leader, seated in the front, instructed the attacker to &let her breathe.8 Sanchez claims that she was threatened and hit throughout the 20-minute drive until she and Pardo were let out in a marginal neighborhood. Sanchez said that they did not seize any of the equipment she was carrying, including her cell phone, video camera, and a small audio recorder. ¶4. (C) For their part, Cadelo and Pardo's girlfriend agreed to get into a marked patrol car, and were not beaten. Cadelo continued "tweeting" from her cell phone about the detention as they were driven away. The two were released in less than half an hour in a different neighborhood. FIRST TIME FOR BLOGGERS -------------- ¶5. (C) Before this weekend, none of the bloggers had ever been detained or physically assaulted by the Cuban authorities. In this case, the detentions appear to have been aimed at preventing their participation in the planned march, rather than to silence them or punish them for their postings (Reftel). Sanchez said that she had planned to cover the march in her capacity as a reporter and that she was not involved in organizing the event. She theorized that state security may have believed she was going to take a more active role at the protest. BEATINGS DO NOT APPEAR TO HAVE BEEN PREMEDITATED -------------- --- ¶6. (C) The beatings of Sanchez and Pardo do not appear to have been premeditated. The agents seemed at first hesitant, and they did not resort to violence until they had called HAVANA 00000684 002.2 OF 002 higher-ups. Sanchez said that she believes if she had simply gone with the men when asked, like Cadelo and the other woman, she might have avoided the beating altogether. However, she said that her refusal to get into an unmarked car with unidentified men was simply &a matter of survival,8 because she feared for her life. ¶7. (C) Cadelo told poloffs that the uniformed police who took her away even appeared apologetic for the violent tactics of the state security agents. One of the officers picked up Pardo,s cell phone, which Pardo had thrown from the window of the other car, and gave it back to Cadelo. When the state security agent who accompanied them asked Cadelo by name to turn off her cell phone, she refused and he did not insist. Nonetheless, Cadelo was warned that the &next time would be worse.8 Sanchez, Pardo and Caudelo told USINT that while the experience was traumatic, and Sanchez was left sore with a bruised back, they are in good spirits. They did not request any assistance from USINT and planned to continue their work as before. TECH AND MEDIA TO THE RESCUE -------------- ¶8. (C) Cadelo had already saved an &I,ve been detained8 tweet on her cellphone for use in an emergency. Within half an hour of her first tweet, she was receiving international calls. By that evening, international media outlets were already broadcasting the story; although the local press did not cover the incident, news of the detention spread within Cuba by phone. Sanchez has not been able to access the internet since November 9, but has still managed to blog two long posts, and has been in contact with foreign diplomats and foreign media. Cadelo and Pardo were all able to blog accounts of their detention as well, as well as video and pictures from the march, within one day. COMMENT -------------- ¶9. (C) While all four were detained, Sanchez appears to have been the real target. In recent weeks, her posts have been increasingly bold and critical of the regime. Although the detention seemed aimed at preventing their attendance at the march and the violence was not premeditated, the agents' threats to "cut out the clowning" and "you've gone too far" appear directed at their blogging activities. The bloggers vow not to be cowed, and plan to carry on as before. FARRAR