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R 221833Z MAY 06
FM USINT HAVANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7913
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RUEHWH/WESTERN HEMISPHERIC AFFAIRS DIPL POSTS
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HAVANA 010738 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE DEPT FOR WHA/CCA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/22/2016 
TAGS: PHUM PREL KDEM SOCI CU
SUBJECT: NEW THINKING IS NEEDED, PAYA TELLS CHIEF OF MISSION 
 
HAVANA 00010738  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Classified By: COM Michael Parmly for Reason 1.4(d). 
 
¶1. (C) Summary. Leading Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya, chief 
of the Christian Liberation Movement and driving force behind 
the Varela Project, told the COM May 18 that "we all have to 
do new things" to help bring democracy to Cuba.  When asked 
about a recent overture from Martha Beatriz Roque, he shied 
away from making any reciprocal gesture.  Meanwhile, 
independent journalist Guillermo Farinas stretched his hunger 
strike to Day 111, and was recovering from an operation to 
drain water and air from his lung.  He did not rule out the 
idea of some day ending his hunger strike even if the GOC 
fails to grant his wishes.  At least three political 
prisoners are waging separate hunger strikes, and another's 
food privileges are being restricted because he refuses to 
accept reeducation.  Activist Felix Bonne, whose backyard 
hosted last year's May 20 dissident Assembly, said the GOC is 
taking no chances with the property this year.  Roque reports 
continued harassment.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (C) Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya told COM on May 18 that 
to promote democracy in Cuba, people on all sides will have 
to engage in new thinking, and the mindset of confrontation 
will have to be neutralized.  The COM said he had discussed a 
number of ideas during a recent visit to Washington, and 
noted that GOC hostility toward USINT had increased since the 
January debut of USINT's electronic billboard.  Paya then 
asked, "Why are you prepared to continue playing on the same 
muddy field?  What's needed is a change of style, a change of 
language."  However, Paya indicated he will continue to press 
the GOC on a number of fronts, including holding Cuba 
accountable, at the UN's new Human Rights Council, for Cuban 
promises made prior to the HRC election.  Paya also said he 
and his colleagues would contact foreign churches and labor 
unions and urge them to "get their governments to demand 
accountability" for the Cuban Government's actions.  The COM 
observed that Martha Beatriz Roque recently sent Paya's wife, 
the mother of three children, flowers on Mother's Day.  Paya 
said it was important to show solidarity at times like these. 
 However, he implied that, on substance, he lacked faith in 
Roque's "credibility." 
 
FARINAS UP TO DAY 111 
--------------------- 
 
¶3. (C) Hunger-striking dissident Guillermo Farinas extended 
his hunger strike to Day 111.  Speaking to us May 19 from his 
hospital room in Santa Clara, Farinas said he is feeling 
weary following an operation to drain water and air from his 
left lung.  He is being kept alive with intravenous fluids. 
He said he had received no recent communication from the GOC, 
which has refused to meet his demand to provide Internet 
access to all Cubans.  He called the hunger strike "the only 
way I have to protest" against the GOC's injustice, adding, 
"We're showing the world what a liar the Cuban Government 
is."  In a slight step back from earlier statements, in which 
he indicated he would die for his cause, Farinas did not rule 
out an eventual end to his hunger strike, even if his demand 
is not met.  "Up to this moment, I have no plan to give up" 
the hunger strike, he said.  He also asked if we had heard he 
is being considered for a prize from a New Jersey-based 
organization.  (We had not.) 
 
"ACT OF REVOLUTIONARY REAFFIRMATION" 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶4. (C) Felix Bonne, one of the 75 peaceful activists jailed 
in March 2003 for peaceful activity (but later released on 
health grounds), confirmed to us that the GOC has confiscated 
his half-acre back yard, which hosted last year's Assembly. 
The GOC is converting it into a park, and neighbors are 
already calling it "Assembly Park."  Bonne said a 
twenty-something neighbor named Rigoberto was one of many 
people who, on May 20, 2005, gathered in the street in front 
of Bonne's house and yelled, "Down with Fidel!"  Most were 
never identified, but Rigoberto apparently was.  On May 15, 
2006, a GOC-organized group of around 150 people - most of 
them high school students - gathered outside Rigoberto's 
house and held an "act of revolutionary reaffirmation" (aka 
"act of repudiation"). Participants sang songs and shouted 
slogans against Rigoberto, who was called a "worm" and a 
"terrorist."  Rigoberto, whose house faces that of a 
Communist Party official, responded by tuning in Radio Marti, 
placing his radio near the window and turning the volume up 
full blast.  According to Bonne, the participants eventually 
got bored, started dancing and having fun, and the 
authorities ended the event abruptly. 
 
ROQUE EXPECTS ABUSE TO CONTINUE 
 
HAVANA 00010738  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (C) Martha Beatriz Roque, who has of late lived in a state 
of semi-permanent siege, got a visit of her own on the 
evening of May 17, after heavy rains soaked Havana and ruined 
some of the pro-regime "artwork" that decorates the wall in 
front of Roque's housing unit.  Two suspected State Security 
agents visited the vacant unit next to Roque's, and then, 
within earshot of Roque, referred to the artwork and said 
more work remains to be done.  Roque viewed this as a cryptic 
message that the GOC will continue to harass her, even though 
she has informed the GOC, through an attorney, that she is 
prepared to turn herself in for re-incarceration, rather than 
face continued abuse.  Roque told us May 21 that a neighbor 
warned her not to leave her housing unit without permission. 
She also said she received a message from a self-described 
Interior Ministry official warning her that she would be 
murdered. 
 
POLITICAL PRISONERS CONTINUE PROTESTS 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (C) Political prisoners Luis Enrique Ferrer Garcia, Alexis 
Rodriguez Fernandez, and Agustin Cervantes Garcia extended 
their hunger strikes to three weeks on May 18, to protest 
against their incarceration and inadequate prison conditions, 
according to Paya.  A fourth political prisoner, Ricardo 
Santiago Medina Salabarria, 37, has had food privileges 
restricted because he has not taken part in reeducation 
activities.  His wife, Katia Martin, was told by staffers at 
Taco Taco prison on May 8 that limits will be placed on the 
amount of food supplies she can bring during her visits, once 
every three weeks. 
PARMLY