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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 HAVANA 011234 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE DEPT FOR WHA/CCA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/26/2016 
TAGS: PHUM KDEM SOCI CU
SUBJECT: CUBA HUMAN RIGHTS ROUNDUP 
 
 
HAVANA 00011234  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
Classified By: COM Michael Parmly for Reason 1.4(d). 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary: The health of hunger-striking dissident 
Guillermo Farinas has taken a turn for the worse, and he is 
threatening to leave his hospital to "go home to die."  The 
"Ladies in White" are to be awarded Human Rights First's 
annual prize.  Activists reacted positively to their May 24 
conference call with the Washington-based Friends of Cuban 
Democracy.  Little activity was reported on May 20, one year 
after the Assembly to Promote Civil society held a major 
dissident gathering.  This time around, Assembly leader 
Martha Beatriz Roque took part in a low-key event.  The COM 
spent the day making unannounced visits to the homes of 
regime opponents.  Three political prisoners, all among the 
75 activists jailed in 2003, have ended their hunger strikes. 
 Wives of three other incarcerated 75ers say their husbands 
are suffering serious health problems.  Political prisoner 
Oscar Biscet wrote to President Bush, urging that the USG 
detain Fidel Castro for crimes against the American people. 
Another dissident showed us stitches from where he says he 
was clubbed by a State Security official.  Heavy rains 
resulted in dozens of homes being destroyed, and anti-Fidel 
shouts were reported in at least one area of the capital.  We 
visited a rural "transit community" after the downpour and 
found many Cubans living in abject poverty.  End Comment. 
 
¶2. (C) The health of independent journalist Guillermo 
Farinas, 113 days into a hunger strike for Cuba-wide Internet 
access, deteriorated this week.  Farinas underwent two 
emergency operations, in which doctors removed nearly a liter 
of blood from his lung.  He has expressed a strong desire to 
leave his Santa Clara hospital and "go home to die."  Farinas 
is continuing to receive IV fluids, but his veins are said to 
be shutting down.  We have not been able to speak with 
Farinas since May 19, but his mother told us May 26 that he 
wants to leave the hospital and return to her house "to die." 
 Farinas' mother told us she would rather have her son seek 
refugee status "from a friendly country, like yours, or 
possibly through the ICRC."  (Although Farinas has frequently 
talked of martyrdom, we expect him to pull back from the 
brink, as he has many times before.)  If Farinas returns home 
and refuses all nourishment, he could die within days.  If he 
loses consciousness, the authorities could send him back to 
the hospital, where he would again be hooked up to an IV. 
(Comment: The death of Farinas, a controversial but respected 
dissident, would likely trigger protests in various cities 
and, consequently, arrests. End Comment.) 
 
ANOTHER AWARD FOR "LADIES IN WHITE" 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) The "Ladies in White," relatives of political 
prisoners, have been informed by the US-based NGO Human 
Rights First that they will receive the group's annual human 
rights prize.  The prize, awarded in past years to Corazon 
Aquino and Mary Robinson, will be presented October 16 in New 
York City at a ceremony that is to draw "more than 800 
lawyers, politicians and prominent business leaders from New 
York and Washington."  Leading Lady Laura Pollan said 
representatives of her group would be delighted to attend, 
but realize that the GOC might block their departure.  Such 
was the case last year, when the Ladies sought exit 
permission to claim the European Parliament's Sakharov prize. 
 
CONFERENCE CALL BRINGS HOPE 
--------------------------- 
 
¶4. (C) Cuban activists are responding positively to May 24's 
conference call connecting USINT with Rep. Lincoln 
Diaz-Balart's office, in which the following people 
participated: Martha Beatriz Roque and Nestor Rodriguez 
Lobaina; various "Friends of Cuban Democracy" in Washington, 
including the Ambassadors (or DCMs) of the Czech Republic, 
Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, the Slovak Republic, and 
Slovenia; Representatives Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart and 
staff; other USG officials; various leaders of Miami's Cuban 
community, including Angel de Fana, Sylvia Iriondo, Orlando 
Guttierrez and Frank Calzon; and USINT staff, led by COM. 
News of the event thrilled several Ladies in White, and Roque 
and Lobaina were particularly energized.  During the 
conference call, the Europeans expressed solidarity with the 
dissidents and asserted that it is only a matter of time 
before democracy reaches Cuba.  The dissidents appealed, 
above all, for the immediate liberation of all political 
prisoners.  The Slovak Ambassador said his Embassy in Havana 
would offer free Internet service to dissidents "within 
weeks." 
 
MAY 20 PASSES QUIETLY 
 
HAVANA 00011234  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
--------------------- 
 
¶5. (C) Cuba's former Independence Day, Saturday, May 20, 
passed with little fanfare, a year after a large group of 
pro-democracy activists held an unprecedented gathering in 
the backyard of 75er Felix Bonne.  This year, an act of 
repudiation was held at the site of last year's event, and 
across town, four Assembly officials met briefly at a prison 
cell that once held Jose Marti. One of the four, Miguel 
Valdez Tamayo, spent the previous night at a nearby park to 
avoid detention.  COM and Poloff spent the day making 
unannounced visits to dissidents' homes, including those of 
freed 75ers Oscar Espinosa Chepe, Roberto de Miranda, and 
Jorge Olivera; Lady in White Laura Pollan; Ana Aguililla 
(wife of political prisoner Francisco Chaviano); Elsa Morejon 
(wife of political prisoner Oscar Biscet); and Beatriz del 
Carmen Pedroza (wife of political prisoner Julio Cesar 
Galvez).  During the stop at De Miranda's home, the COM met 
with a half-dozen academics taking part in an event to mark 
the day. 
 
POLITICAL PRISONERS END PROTESTS 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (C) Three political prisoners who are members of Oswaldo 
Paya's Christian Liberation Movement called off their hunger 
strikes.  Luis Enrique Ferrer Garcia, the 75er who received 
the longest sentence of all (28 years), discontinued his 
action along with Alexis Rodriguez Fernandez and Agustin 
Cervantes Garcia.  They were protesting their unjust 
incarcerations and poor prison conditions.  On May 25, we met 
with wives of three other imprisoned 75ers -- Omar Ruiz, 
Arturo Perez and Lester Gonzalez -- all suffering major 
health problems.  Perez alone has spina bifida, gastritis, 
emphysema and prostate issues, as well as cellmate problems. 
Another political prisoner, Oscar Biscet, managed to send us, 
through a note inside a book's hard cover, a letter to 
President Bush.  In the letter, dated January 6, Dr. Biscet 
says the human rights situation in Cuba requires "preventive 
action."  He also proposes that the USG take Fidel Castro 
into custody for crimes against the American people, and says 
that if Cubans were to rebel against Castro, they would be 
massacred "like those at Tiananmen Square." 
 
DISSIDENT BEATEN IN STREET 
-------------------------- 
 
¶7. (C) Dissident Jesus Verdecia Castillo of the Pro-Human 
Rights Party met with us May 23 and showed us stitches on his 
head from what he says was an unfavorable May 16 encounter 
with a State Security agent.  Verdecia was summoned to a 
State Security office in Santa Clara and after that meeting, 
a State Security officer allegedly followed him and attacked 
him with a stick.  Witnesses were allegedly present but 
unwilling to get involved.  When Verdecia went to a hospital 
for treatment, he said, two other dissidents happened to be 
there, and the GOC responded by sending 20 policemen to the 
scene, plus State Security officials.  Verdecia ended up 
spending the next 12 hours in custody before being released 
without charge. 
 
HEAVY RAINS ADD TO MISERY 
------------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) Heavy downpours May 22 and 23 resulted in dozens of 
Havana homes being destroyed.  In the hard-hit inland 
neighborhood of Santo Suarez, anti-Fidel shouts were 
reported.  Home video of the scene, shared with USINT, did 
not contain audio of any such shouts, but showed considerable 
destruction caused by floodwaters six feet deep.  On May 24, 
we visited a "transit community," an official housing complex 
for those who have lost their homes, on the outer fringes of 
Havana.  We found widespread poverty among the estimated 700 
residents at the site, one of three in Havana's San Miguel 
del Padron municipality. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶9. (C) The deterioration of Farinas' health has received 
considerable attention both domestically and abroad.  His 
death would not only cost Cuba's human rights community one 
of its most dedicated members but could trigger street 
protests.  It has been many years since a dissident has died 
under these kinds of circumstances.  On a brighter note, we 
see nothing but an upside to the Ladies' latest honor, and we 
believe that the Friends of Cuban Democracy event could 
generate momentum, particularly among some of our European 
friends, toward holding the Castro regime accountable for 
 
HAVANA 00011234  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
ongoing rights violations. 
PARMLY