CUBAN OPPOSITION SHOCKED AND ENERGIZED BY DEATH OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HAVANA 000110

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

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

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/20/2019
TAGS: PREL PHUM PGOV EAID CU
SUBJECT: CUBAN OPPOSITION SHOCKED AND ENERGIZED BY DEATH OF
HUNGER STRIKER

REF: HAVANA 107 ("CUBA BUTTONED DOWN FOLLOWING DEATH
OF HUNGER-STRIKING POLITICAL PRISONER
ORLANDO ZAPATA TAMAYO")

HAVANA 00000110 001.2 OF 002


Classified By: Principal Officer Jonathan Farrar for reasons 1.4 (b) an
d (d).


1. (C) SUMMARY. The February 23 death of political prisoner
Orlando Zapata Tamayo has both shocked and energized the
Cuban opposition, but has not provoked large scale political
unrest in Cuba or resonated deeply within Cuban society at
large. State security forces have been active, resorting to
short-term and house detentions and travel restrictions to
repress organized activities honoring Zapata. Other than
President Raul Castro's unprecedented February 24 statement
(not published within Cuba) "lamenting" Zapata's death and a
brief mention on a government website, the official media has
remained silent. END SUMMARY.

MUCH EXCITEMENT BUT THINGS QUIETING DOWN


2. (SBU) After an initial 24-hour period in which elements of
the opposition and public security forces bristled for
possible confrontation, the situation throughout Cuba appears
to be returning to the status quo after Zapata's burial.
There have been no public demonstrations, and all persons who
had been detained in Havana and eastern Cuba have been freed.
There have been no further reported detentions. Despite
this, there is a certain sense of momentum among the
political opposition, with several prisoners of conscience
and other leaders announcing hunger strikes and other
activities to mark the seventh anniversary of the 2003
arrests that netted Zapata and 75 other members of the
opposition.

REPRESSION AT THE BURIAL


3. (SBU) Zapata's burial in his hometown of Banes in
easternmost Cuba was a tense affair. Witnesses reported a
heavy police presence, with opposition members' houses
surrounded and checkpoints at the town's entrances.
High-profile opposition leaders such as Martha Beatriz Roque,
Vladimiro Roca and Laura Pollan, along with several Damas de
Blanco were allowed to enter Banes and attend the wake and
funeral, along with many local activists. Pollan told us
that tensions rose when Cuban officials insisted that
Zapata's burial take place within hours after his body had
arrived in Banes on February 24, and the family pushed back
hard. Roque reportedly told a Cuban woman doctor sent to
press the case for a quick burial that she would "kick her
ass" if she didn't leave the place at once. Eventually,
authorities bowed to pressure and allowed the family to delay
the burial until early in the morning of February 25.
Despite the reported presence of 50-60 state security
officials at the funeral and burial, both in uniform and
plainclothes, mourners were permitted to march through the
streets of Banes to Zapata's burial site, shouting "Long Live
Human Rights!," "Long Live Zapata!," and other chants.

DETENTIONS AND HARASSMENT ELSEWHERE


4. (C) Throughout Cuba, Zapata's supporters were prevented
from attending activities to mark his death. Human rights
monitor Elizardo Sanchez told PolOff that he had received
reports of more than one hundred detentions and house arrests
in the hours following Zapata's death. In Havana, several
small and disparate groups were detained en route to sign a
condolence book in Damas de Blanco spokesperson Pollan's home
(which USINT Pol Counselor signed on February 25 on behalf of
the USG). Blogger Yoani Sanchez told PolOff that she and her
sister were detained on their way to Pollan's house on
February 24 and "roughed up" by state security agents, who
released them ninety minutes later and apologized for the
"misunderstanding." Opposition activists in Matanzas, Pinar
del Rio, and throughout eastern Cuba informed PolOffs of
police harassment, house arrests, and detentions. With the
exception of Sanchez, however, detainees released from police
stations reported a minimum of interrogations or harassment.

HAVANA 00000110 002.2 OF 002



CIVIL SOCIETY UNITY


5. (C) Zapata's death has uniformly shocked and outraged
Cuba's fractured civil society, inspiring an unprecedented
show of unity and teamwork among traditional opposition
figures, bloggers, religious leaders, and independent
journalists. Punk guitarist Ciro Garcia filmed an interview
with traditional opposition leaders Juan Carlos Gonzalez
Leyva and Pollan, and posted the interview on his partner
Claudia Cadelo's blog. Yoani Sanchez told Poloff she had
deliberately downplayed news of her own violent detention in
order to avoid detracting from Zapata's death, and publicly
showed solidarity with the highly-political traditional
opposition leaders she generally avoids. Convivencia, an
independent Catholic publication, organized a nationwide
prayer circle to coincide with the time of Zapata's death.
Meanwhile, political prisoners and other activists from all
over Cuba began to report their own hunger strikes in protest
of Zapata's death, including well-known afro-Cuban political
leader Guillermo "Coco" Farinas.

RAUL REACTS, REINA RIPOSTES


6. (U) The official media has kept silence on Zapata's death.
Cubadebate.cu, the GOC's primary internet mouthpiece
featured a posting with Cuban President Raul Castro's
"lament" that a political prisoner had died. The same
website also featured pro-GOC bloggers maligning Zapata as a
common criminal. The February 26 issue of Granma had an
article on the "shamelessness" of the U.S. detailing prison
conditions, including deaths, in the United States. Reina
Danger Tamayo, Zapata's mother, reacted angrily to Castro's
comments in her interviews with the foreign press, rejecting
his lament and labeling the death of her son "premeditated
murder." In at least one interview (with ABC news),Danger
also categorically rejected Castro's claim that Zapata's
death was due to U.S. government policies in Cuba, stating
bluntly, "(the U.S. government didn't kill my son. This
regime did."

COMMENT: DEATH CATCHES ALL OFF-GUARD


7. (C) Although the GOC response to Zapata's death has been
swift and thorough, it has been calibrated, focused on
preventing large gatherings and relying upon mostly
non-violent means. Nearly all observers agree that the GOC
did not want Zapata's death and that it was a result of gross
negligence and incompetence by prison authorities and the
health system. These two institutions are truly and
thoroughly broken down. This makes it an extremely dangerous
proposition to be an inmate in Cuba's prison system. There
are dozens of political prisoners who are seriously ill.
.FARRAR