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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HAVANA 016023 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE DEPT FOR WHA/CCA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/11/2016 
TAGS: PHUM KDEM SOCI CU
SUBJECT: CUBA HUMAN RIGHTS ROUNDUP AUGUST 11, 2006 
 
HAVANA 00016023  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Classified By: COM Michael Parmly for Reason 1.4(d). 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: Cuba's "Ladies in White" expressed concern 
that their weekly march outside Havana's Santa Rita church on 
Sunday, April 13, will be their most dangerous ever, as it 
coincides with the 80th birthday of Fidel Castro and could 
prompt a counter-protest by regime supporters.  Elsewhere in 
Havana, Oswaldo Paya passed on a "credible" rumor that Fidel 
had undergone a colostomy.  With Poloff in attendance, 
members of the Marti Youth Coalition in a meeting and agreed 
that most Cubans oppose the elevation of Raul.  Communist 
militants held an "act of repudiation" against Lady in White 
Katia Martin.  A police officer threatened to beat up 
independent journalist Carlos Serpa Maceira.  State Security 
searched the home of labor leader Aurelio Bachiller without a 
warrant.  A crackdown on watchers of US television is 
underway.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (C) A leading member of Cuba's "Ladies in White" - 
relatives of political prisoners -- expressed concern that 
their weekly march outside Santa Rita church on August 13 
could spark a counter-protest, as it falls on Fidel Castro's 
80th birthday.  Laura Pollan, wife of political prisoner 
Hector Maseda Gutierrez, told Poloff August 11 that she had 
heard from a number of Ladies in outlying areas that the GOC 
is taking steps to prevent them from entering the capital to 
take part in the march.  Pollan noted that the GOC has, in 
the past, mobilized female regime supporters to confront the 
Ladies, and feared that this might be the case for the coming 
march. 
 
FIDEL COLOSTOMY RUMORED 
----------------------- 
 
¶3. (C) Oswaldo Paya of the Christian Liberation Movement told 
Poloff August 11 that he had received "credible" information 
from someone "very close to the operating room" that Fidel 
Castro's operation had been a colostomy, carried out at 
Havana's CIMEQ hospital.  Paya said this was suggestive of 
colon cancer, adding that the dictator's long-term health 
prospects did not look good.  Paya also addressed what he 
called the "power vaccuum" with Fidel off his feet.  "Raul 
doesn't have sufficient support within the government, and 
this means danger."  He added: "The regime knows it has no 
future, and now is not the time to provoke it."  Paya added 
that in due time, he will "present our program to the people." 
 
¶4. (C) In Havana's inland Boyeros neighborhood, around 12 
members of the Marti Youth Coalition -- a democratic 
counterpart to the Union of Young Communists -- held a 
90-minute meeting August 11 with Poloff in attendance.  The 
participants expressed their rejection of Raul Castro as 
Cuba's leader and stated their determination to push forward 
with peaceful democratic activity, even in the face of 
reprisals.  One participant said militants were gathering 
near her house for an "act of repudiation" in the evening. 
Another said local militants rousted him out of bed for 
laughs on August 7. 
 
"DOWN WITH IMPERIALISM!" 
------------------------ 
 
¶5. (C) Around 50 Communist militants staged an "act of 
repudiation" August 9 in front of the Havana home of Lady in 
White Katia Martin, whose husband, Orthodox priest Ricardo 
Medina Salabarria, has been held for more than a year without 
formal charges.  The act was nonviolent and featured a sound 
system and predictable chants: "Down with Imperialism!" "Long 
Live the Revolution!"  Earlier in the day, Martin and her 
twin daughters visited Salabarria at Taco Taco prison in 
Pinar del Rio, where Martin said celebrations broke out after 
the July 31 succession announcement was made on TV. 
Salabarria's attorney said the prosecution's dossier 
indicates that her client will be charged with "Law 88": acts 
against the state's independence or territorial integrity. 
The sentence carries a term of two to 20 years. 
 
POLICE OFFICER THREATENS BEATING 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (C) A police officer outside of USINT Havana approached 
independent journalist and frequent USINT visitor Carlos 
Serpa Maceira August 4 and told him that if he continued to 
visit the Interests Section, he would be kicked in the head. 
Serpa, of Lux Info Press, responded August 7 to a summons by 
the Civil Registry, where he was told that he was staying in 
Havana illegally and could be fined 3,000 pesos ($125). 
Serpa conceded to Poloff that he did not have official 
permission to reside in the capital, but asked, "How can you 
 
HAVANA 00016023  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
be illegal in your own homeland?"  Serpa speculated that the 
move was intended to disrupt his dissident activities. 
 
WARRANT-LESS SEARCH OF DISSIDENT'S HOUSE 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (C) Without a warrant, State Security officials on August 
10 carried out a search at the home of Aurelio Bachiller, 
Secretary General of the National Confederation of 
 
SIPDIS 
Independent Workers of Cuba (CONIC).  The officials told 
Bachiller they knew he was planning to hold a dissident 
event; Bachiller told us he had no such plans.  The officials 
left without confiscating anything. 
 
SATELLITE TV CRACKDOWN 
---------------------- 
 
¶8. (C) The GOC's August 9 announcement of a crackdown on 
those who watch US satellite TV programming generated 
concern.  Novelist and freed 75er Jorge Olivera told Poloff 
that many of his neighbors have expressed uneasiness over the 
announcement and its provision of up to three years in jail 
for those connect to a satellite receiver.  Olivera added 
that the neighborhood should be OK, because one of the 
residents has a relative in the police would will tip him off 
ahead of any raids.  Olivera also said the crackdown could be 
a distraction from developments in the political arena. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
¶9. (C) Human rights abusers have not taken a vacation because 
of the July 31 announcement of Fidel Castro's incapacitation. 
 Even if Raul Castro is temporarily wearing his big brother's 
hat as head of regime, he still wears his old hat as Minister 
of Defense, in charge of Interior Ministry State Security 
elements as well.  There is nothing in Raul's biography or 
experiences as Defense Minister that would lead us to believe 
that he would oversee a softening of regime pressure on 
dissidents. 
PARMLY