Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09HAVANA704
2009-11-23 18:45:00
CONFIDENTIAL
US Interests Section Havana
Cable title:
CUBA UNLEASHES MOB ON BLOGGERS
how-toVZCZCXRO6334 PP RUEHAG RUEHROV RUEHSL RUEHSR DE RUEHUB #0704 3271845 ZNY CCCCC ZZH P 231845Z NOV 09 FM USINT HAVANA TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4941 INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUEHWH/WESTERN HEMISPHERIC AFFAIRS DIPL POSTS PRIORITY RUCOWCV/CCGDSEVEN MIAMI FL PRIORITY RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY RUCOGCA/COMNAVBASE GUANTANAMO BAY CU PRIORITY RHMFISS/HQ USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL PRIORITY RHMFISS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NSC WASHINGTON DC
C O N F I D E N T I A L HAVANA 000704
SIPDIS
STATE FOR WHA/CCA AND WHA/PD
STATE FOR DRL CNEWLING
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/23/2019
TAGS: PREL PHUM PGOV CU
SUBJECT: CUBA UNLEASHES MOB ON BLOGGERS
REF: A. HAVANA 684 ("BLOGGERS BEATEN BUT NOT DETERRED")
B. HAVANA 695 ("BLOGGER THRILLED WITH POTUS
RESPONSE TO HER Q&AS")
Classified By: Political Officer Joaquin Monserrate for reasons 1.4 (b)
and (d)
C O N F I D E N T I A L HAVANA 000704
SIPDIS
STATE FOR WHA/CCA AND WHA/PD
STATE FOR DRL CNEWLING
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/23/2019
TAGS: PREL PHUM PGOV CU
SUBJECT: CUBA UNLEASHES MOB ON BLOGGERS
REF: A. HAVANA 684 ("BLOGGERS BEATEN BUT NOT DETERRED")
B. HAVANA 695 ("BLOGGER THRILLED WITH POTUS
RESPONSE TO HER Q&AS")
Classified By: Political Officer Joaquin Monserrate for reasons 1.4 (b)
and (d)
1. (SBU) Cuban blogger Reinaldo Escobar was attacked by a
pro-government mob on November 20, 2009. Escobar had
challenged the state security agents who beat his blogger
wife Yoani Sanchez to meet in the same spot where she was
picked up and roughed-up on November 6 (Ref A). Escobar was
answering questions from the foreign press when the angry mob
moved in and surrounded his group. Chanting pro-government
slogans and vowing action against "traitors," the crowd began
to push and shove Escobar and at least a dozen other bloggers
who had accompanied him. As Escobar tried to make his way
out, he and a companion were picked up by state security
agents who pulled up in a car, driven to a distant
neighborhood and dropped off. Foreign press and bloggers
filmed the event, and news spread quickly through tweets by
Yoani Sanchez, who was not present, and blogger Claudia
Cadelo, who was.
2. (C) Escobar spoke with Poloff hours after the incident.
He was rattled but appeared to have no serious injuries.
Escobar believed the attack was state-organized, and
estimated the mob to be 300-400 people, claims which were
backed up by both video and witnesses. He said that the
state security agents who picked him up refused to identify
themselves, did not say anything to him or his companion
before dropping them off, and were neither physically nor
verbally abusive. Escobar noted that several foreign
journalists had asked him whether he viewed the attack as a
reprisal for President Obama's published responses to Yoani
Sanchez earlier that week (Ref B). He believed the attack
was unconnected, and had likely been planned before the
answers were published.
3. (C) In a press statement sent Friday to foreign
correspondents on the island, the GOC framed the event as a
"spontaneous" protest by "loyal" Cubans who were tired of
Yoani Sanchez and other bloggers' "counter-revolutionary"
opinions. According to the GOC, the crowds had been taking
part in a peaceful and unrelated Communist Youth book fair at
the same location. The GOC claimed to have rescued Escobar
from the angry mob.
4. (C) COMMENT: Sanchez, Escobar and other Cuban bloggers
claim that they are not members of the dissident community or
the opposition camp. Over the past few months, however,
their writing has become more politicized, and they have
engaged in increasingly public activities. As long as the
bloggers kept their activism online, the community had
appeared to exist in a special sphere of protection from
traditional reprisals such as organized mob attacks and
detentions. Now, the gloves may be off. Sanchez and Escobar
both told Poloffs in a prior conversation that they expected
increased GOC repression in the coming months.
FARRAR
SIPDIS
STATE FOR WHA/CCA AND WHA/PD
STATE FOR DRL CNEWLING
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/23/2019
TAGS: PREL PHUM PGOV CU
SUBJECT: CUBA UNLEASHES MOB ON BLOGGERS
REF: A. HAVANA 684 ("BLOGGERS BEATEN BUT NOT DETERRED")
B. HAVANA 695 ("BLOGGER THRILLED WITH POTUS
RESPONSE TO HER Q&AS")
Classified By: Political Officer Joaquin Monserrate for reasons 1.4 (b)
and (d)
1. (SBU) Cuban blogger Reinaldo Escobar was attacked by a
pro-government mob on November 20, 2009. Escobar had
challenged the state security agents who beat his blogger
wife Yoani Sanchez to meet in the same spot where she was
picked up and roughed-up on November 6 (Ref A). Escobar was
answering questions from the foreign press when the angry mob
moved in and surrounded his group. Chanting pro-government
slogans and vowing action against "traitors," the crowd began
to push and shove Escobar and at least a dozen other bloggers
who had accompanied him. As Escobar tried to make his way
out, he and a companion were picked up by state security
agents who pulled up in a car, driven to a distant
neighborhood and dropped off. Foreign press and bloggers
filmed the event, and news spread quickly through tweets by
Yoani Sanchez, who was not present, and blogger Claudia
Cadelo, who was.
2. (C) Escobar spoke with Poloff hours after the incident.
He was rattled but appeared to have no serious injuries.
Escobar believed the attack was state-organized, and
estimated the mob to be 300-400 people, claims which were
backed up by both video and witnesses. He said that the
state security agents who picked him up refused to identify
themselves, did not say anything to him or his companion
before dropping them off, and were neither physically nor
verbally abusive. Escobar noted that several foreign
journalists had asked him whether he viewed the attack as a
reprisal for President Obama's published responses to Yoani
Sanchez earlier that week (Ref B). He believed the attack
was unconnected, and had likely been planned before the
answers were published.
3. (C) In a press statement sent Friday to foreign
correspondents on the island, the GOC framed the event as a
"spontaneous" protest by "loyal" Cubans who were tired of
Yoani Sanchez and other bloggers' "counter-revolutionary"
opinions. According to the GOC, the crowds had been taking
part in a peaceful and unrelated Communist Youth book fair at
the same location. The GOC claimed to have rescued Escobar
from the angry mob.
4. (C) COMMENT: Sanchez, Escobar and other Cuban bloggers
claim that they are not members of the dissident community or
the opposition camp. Over the past few months, however,
their writing has become more politicized, and they have
engaged in increasingly public activities. As long as the
bloggers kept their activism online, the community had
appeared to exist in a special sphere of protection from
traditional reprisals such as organized mob attacks and
detentions. Now, the gloves may be off. Sanchez and Escobar
both told Poloffs in a prior conversation that they expected
increased GOC repression in the coming months.
FARRAR