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C O N F I D E N T I A L HAVANA 000207 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/CCA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/01/2017 
TAGS: CU PGOV PHUM PINR PREL
SUBJECT: CUBAN POLICE BEAT UP PRO-DEMOCRACY ADVOCATES FOR 
DISTRIBUTING UN DECLARATION 
 
Classified By: COM: M.E. Parmly : For reasons 1.4 b/d 
 
¶1.  (C)  Summary: On March 1, police and members of Cuban 
state security confronted and beat 10 well known 
pro-democracy activists who were handing out copies of the UN 
Declaration of Human Rights in Central Havana.  Some of the 
activists receive injuries. Police pushed those involved 
into cars, sending some who lived locally home immediately 
and detaining others for several hours before arranging 
transportation back to their home provinces of Santa Clara 
and Santiago de Cuba.  All were released without charges. 
This incident follows immediately upon the lavish coverage in 
the state owned press about Cuba signing on February 28 two 
UN covenants regarding civic, educational and cultural 
rights.  See action recommended at paragraph 8.  End summary. 
 
¶2. (C)  At about 4:00 PM on March 1 Cuban police and security 
forces confronted 10 well known opposition leaders in Central 
Havana for distributing on the street copies of the UN 
Declaration of Human Rights.  The activists were: Martha 
Beatriz Roque (MBR), Felix Antonio Bonne Carcasses, Idania 
Contreras, Guillermo "Coco" Farinas, Jose Luis Garcia Perez 
("Antunez"), Luis Garcia Vega ("Lucas Garve"), Carlos Cordero 
Paez, Iris Perez, Jose Diaz Silva and his wife.  The group 
had already walked for 5 blocks and had distributed over 5000 
copies of the declaration.  MBR reports that police grabbed 
her so forcefully that the ligaments in her arm were damaged. 
 A doctor has put her arm in a sling to keep the limb 
immobilized.  She states that a female officer kneed her in 
the stomach.  MBR reports experiencing a great deal of pain. 
She also said that a police struck Farinas forcibly in the 
head.  She said that a police officer struck Idania Contreras 
in the head and broke her glasses.  According to MBR Idania's 
hand is badly swollen after she was roughed up. 
 
¶3. (C)  The police pushed the members of the group into 
automobiles.  The majority, such as MBR, were brought 
immediately to their homes.  Farinas and Contreras were held 
in the police station until about midnight after which police 
transported them home. All those involved have been released 
and to date no charges have been filed. 
 
¶4. (C)  MBR has organized walks over the past several months 
to distribute copies of the UN Declaration of Human Rights to 
people passing in the street. Earlier she was usually 
accompanied by three or four colleagues and this is the first 
time with such a large group.  On one recent occasion MBR 
walked for several kilometers passing out copies of the 
declaration without the authorities ever molesting her.  In 
the past she has even handed out copies to uniformed police 
officers who did not try to impede her activities.  (USINT 
has supplied thousands of copies of the UN Declaration to the 
Cuban public.  The Dutch Embassy has also supplied Cuban 
civil society with many copies of this declaration.) 
 
¶5.  (C) The opposition has focused on the UN Declaration of 
Human Rights as a issue on which they are united.  Since Cuba 
is a signatory to this document, all dissident groups see it 
as vital to inform the Cuban people of their rights.  In the 
meantime, the state owned media has highlighted Cuba's 
signing on February 28 of two UN covenants regarding civic, 
educational and cultural rights as well as Cuban Foreign 
Minister Felipe Perez Roque visit to Geneva to the UN High 
Commissioner for Human Rights.  Dissidents take the portion 
of Roque speech before the UN that "Cuba reserves the right 
to interpret" these agreements to be a cynical posture that 
translates into more beatings and repression. 
 
¶6.  (C)  Pro-democracy activists are very busy trying to 
respond to the new government of Raul Castro.  Several of the 
most prominent figures in the dissident movement have been 
trying to formulate a new unity document.  Bonne together 
with opposition lawyer Rene Gomez Manzano just wrote a letter 
to Raul Castro.  The letter states that since Raul's speech 
of February 24 indicates the GOC should respect divergent 
points of view, Raul should meet with the peaceful 
opposition.  The letter also states that Cuba should indicate 
that it will implement the UN Declaration of Human Rights. 
 
¶7.  (C) Post intends to continue to work closely with the 
dissident community and support efforts for the Cuban people 
to demand their rights.  Post will meet with Susan McDade, 
local coordinator for the UN, as well as with a number of 
local embassies to work on ways to maintain the pressure on 
the GOC. 
 
¶8.  (C) Comment and Action Request: This incident illustrates 
all too clearly in which light the GOC regards any 
commitments to improve the human rights situation.  The GOC 
even after giving maximum publicity to their involvement in 
the new UN Human Rights Council obviously feels that it can 
beat with impunity peaceful citizens who were only engaged in 
handing out an agreement that Cuba has signed. Post urges the 
Department to make a public statement condemning the incident 
and for the incident to receive attention in the testimony of 
A/S Shannon before the Congress on March 5. The US should 
reinforce strongly that the US is judging the Raul Castro 
government by its deeds, not its words.  Doing so will send a 
clear signal of encouragement to the peaceful opposition. 
PARMLY