HUMAN RIGHTS DAY TURNS VIOLENT IN HAVANA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 HAVANA 000736

SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA/CCA AND WHA/PD
STATE FOR DRL CNEWLING

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/10/2019
TAGS: PREL PHUM PGOV ECON EAID SMIG CU
SUBJECT: HUMAN RIGHTS DAY TURNS VIOLENT IN HAVANA

REF: HAVANA 704 ("CUBA UNLEASHES MOB ON BLOGGERS")

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


1. (C) SUMMARY. Human Rights Day turned violent in Havana as
State-organized mobs attacked separate marches by the Damas
de Blanco and by supporters of Dr. Darsi Ferrer. While the
Damas were generally insulated from physical assault by state
security agents surrounding them, Ferrer's supporters were
picked off and attacked by a mob, and then shoved into
waiting cars and driven away to undisclosed locations. A CNN
reporter and a British diplomat were both subjected to
harassment, shoving, and jostling, but emerged unharmed.
Meanwhile, USINT's Human Rights Day reception for civil
society featuring President Obama's Nobel Prize speech went
off smoothly, with only scattered reports of harassment or
detentions among those who planned to attend. END SUMMARY.

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THE NIGHT BEFORE
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2. (C) Two marches organized by the Damas de Blanco on
December 9 and 10 were met by large, boisterous mobs clearly
orchestrated by the Government of Cuba (GOC). The Damas, a
group of women whose relatives are political prisoners,
organized the first march on the evening of December 9.
Departing from the house of group-leader Laura Pollan, 57
women marched without incident to the park where Darsi Ferrer
traditionally holds a Human Rights Day march. The Damas
distributed copies of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (which USINT had provided to them) along the way. At
the park, poloff observed a significant gathering of
plainclothes state security forces. When Pollan began to
speak to the international press, 4-5 pro-government
protestors immediately ran toward her, shouting slogans and
preventing further comments to the press. Poloff saw
GOC-owned vehicles dropping off people who joined others
gathering and completely enveloped the Damas, who were in
turn surrounded by a cordon of plainclothes officers who
prevented physical attacks. On the march back to Pollan's
house, the mob swelled to 250-300 people. Poloff observed
25-30 additional mob participants leaving a bus with "Pastors
for Peace" painted on the side in English. When the Damas
passed the University of Havana, a crowd of 50-60 students
was waiting for them, with one student leading the mob in
chants of "Down with Worms" and "Viva Fidel." When the Damas
arrived back at the house, another group was waiting in the
street to join in the mob as state security forced a passage
for the Damas to Pollan's front door. The "Act of
Repudiation" continued in front of the house for another hour
and then dispersed. The Damas reported that at 11:00 PM a
colonel from state security visited the house and told them
to cancel anything they had planned for the next day.

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HUMAN RIGHTS DAY
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3. (C) The march on the morning of December 10 provided
additional evidence of strong GOC organization. Approximately
25 Damas marched from the house to the former presidential
palace in Old Havana. As the marchers approached the palace,
poloff observed four mini-buses and two full-sized municipal
buses, crammed with people, following behind. When the Damas
tried to make a statement to the press from the steps of the
palace, they were quickly forced away by the mob that had
unloaded from the buses. While the Damas were again
protected from violence by plainclothes state security, the
crowd repeatedly attempted to reach them, shoving violently
against the security detail and shouting slogans and
obscenities. At the same time, however, poloff watched as the
head of the security detail conferred multiple times with the
two leaders of the mob, which quickly grew to 500-550 people.

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STATE-ORGANIZED MOBS

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4. (C) At multiple points in the narrow streets, the mob
leaders and state security appeared to coordinate the pace of
the procession and the route. On one occasion, a city bus
blocked the road and the mob shouted for the Damas to be
loaded onto the bus and taken away, but the security detail
would not allow it. One of the Damas was briefly separated
from the group and blows rained upon her until she was able
to return to the safety of the protected group. At one point,
a double-decker bus filled with tourists approached on the
main street. While the tourists filmed, the mob quickly
linked arms and forced the entire procession to turn into a
crowded side street and away from the eyes and cameras of the
visitors. During the march, Poloffs asked shopkeepers and
others on the street what was happening. Almost all knew who
the Damas were and that they were "opposed to the GOC," but
few could say why they were marching. Members of the mob also
spoke to the onlookers, telling them that the Damas were
"from away" and "mercenaries." The mobs on both days dwarfed
the Damas, both in size and volume, and seemed intent on
taking over the Damas protests and making them their own,
pro-government, parades. Any efforts to film the Damas by
international press were quickly blocked, as people flung
themselves in front of the cameras and jostled the cameramen.

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VIOLENCE IN THE PARK
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5. (C) At the same time, a march in honor of Dr. Darsi Ferrer
was held on the other side of town. Ferrer, who has been
imprisoned without charge since July, has organized an
annual, silent Human Rights Day since 2006. The march has
always resulted in violence, and this year was no different.
Poloff walked to the park where marchers had planned to
gather and in less than two blocks saw almost forty
plainclothes state security agents clustered along the
street. The park, normally quiet at 10:00 a.m., had been
festooned to masquerade as a neighborhood block party,
replete with stage, sound system, and stands selling
clothing, popcorn, sweets, and sodas. One foreign reporter
with decades of experience on the island told Poloff as he
surveyed the festive scene, "This is the most Cuban Cuba
you,ll see. Nothing here is what it appears to be. It,s
all a facade." At approximately 11 a.m., a woman who had
clearly been planted in the park received notice that the
marchers had arrived and took off running towards them,
yelling, "Run! Run! Hurry!" to the other "block party"
participants. On cue, dozens of people in the park fell in
line behind her, and dozens more began streaming out of the
park and into the street where the marchers had appeared.
The marchers never entered the park; instead, they were
surrounded by a mob of approximately 100 people, which
quickly grew to about 300. The mob picked off marchers
individually, hitting, shoving, and spitting at them while
screaming insults and pro-Castro chants. Poloff witnessed
several marchers being physically assaulted by the mobs
before plainclothes state security agents stepped in to grab
the marchers from behind and drag them, usually by the neck,
to waiting Ladas with non-government license plates. Each
time a marcher was forced into a car and driven away, the mob
would chant, "Fidel! Fidel! Fidel!" A final marcher (and
USINT contact) was shoved into an ambulance. Although poloff
only saw security detain five marchers, our British
counterpart told us he had seen Ferrer,s wife, Yusnaimy
Jorge Soca, being shoved into a car approximately one block
from the park, and a civil society contact informed us that
there were up to twenty marchers who had attempted to go to
the park. The whereabouts of those who were detained are
still unknown.

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VIOLENCE AGAINST INTERNATIONAL PRESS AND A DIPLOMAT
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6. (C) Violence was not only directed at Cuban marchers.
After taking one or two questions from international

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television reporters covering the event, poloff,s British
counterpart was mobbed by approximately 100 people who began
screaming at him and appeared to be on the point of
physically attacking him. Plainclothes state security agents
immediately encircled him and blocked the mob from physically
assaulting him as he attempted to walk the block and a half
to his car. He and poloff, who had previously agreed to
depart the park together for safety reasons, had to navigate
the mob in order to enter his car, and then drove through
approximately thirty people who were surrounding the car,
attempting to block its exit as they hit the car with their
fists and shouted pro-GOC and anti-American phrases. An
international reporter told our British counterpart that the
events at the park were the most violent he had seen in
twenty years on the island. Meanwhile, at the Damas de
Blanco march, a CNN reporter was consistently harassed,
pulled, and shoved by mob participants. Several times he had
to stop filming and force his way out of an angry crowd.
Poloffs and our counterparts from other embassies were tailed
by state security agents throughout the Damas march.

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USINT CELEBRATES HUMAN RIGHTS DAY AND THE NOBEL PRIZE
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7. (C) The violence did not extend to USINT's open-invite
reception for Cubans who registered to watch President
Obama's Nobel Prize acceptance speech at the Chief of
Mission's residence. Although USINT received reports of
scattered detentions and of houses being surrounded, event
participants experienced less state security harassment than
normal, and 118 of the 200 people who had registered were
able to attend. The event resulted in some negative GOC
response, however. Some prominent opposition members who had
registered for the event and who traditionally attend USINT
functions did not attend, and may have been detained or
blocked by state security. Attempts by USINT to contact them
throughout the day were unsuccessful. In addition, permission
to use state-owned buses was revoked at the last minute, and
all of the participants who were waiting for USINT-provided
transportation were filmed and photographed at close range
outside the Public Affairs Officer residence by three men
claiming to be Cuban press.


8. (C) COMMENT: We were struck by how intricately each
pro-GOC mob had been engineered, and by how insulated they
appeared to be from ordinary Cubans on the street. From the
outset, there was a clear distinction between mob
participants, who had almost all been bused in for the event,
and neighborhood bystanders, who generally appeared to be
nonplussed. The GOC response seemed designed to send distinct
messages to Cubans and to audiences abroad. The message to
Cubans was clear: public opposition will not be tolerated.
The message to the international community is also clear:
"true" Cubans not only overwhelmingly support the revolution,
but will also fight any who oppose it. Meanwhile, despite
having organized counter-demonstrations behind the scenes, by
publicly protecting targets from physical harm while the
cameras are rolling, the GOC can continue claiming that it
will protect dissidents from the anger of their compatriots.
END COMMENT.
FARRAR