VZCZCXYZ0029
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHUB #3740/01 1861450
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 051450Z JUL 06
FM USINT HAVANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0957
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES
RUEHWH/WESTERN HEMISPHERIC AFFAIRS DIPL POSTS
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

C O N F I D E N T I A L HAVANA 013740 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE DEPT FOR WHA/CCA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/05/2016 
TAGS: PHUM KDEM SOCI CU
SUBJECT: CUBA HUMAN RIGHTS ROUNDUP: JULY 5, 2006 
 
Classified By: COM Michael Parmly for Reason 1.4(d). 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary: The number of documented political prisoners 
in Cuba dropped by four percentage points over the past six 
months, as the Cuban Government stepped up its use of 
less-scrutinized forms of control, including warnings, 
beatings and "acts of repudiation."  Government-directed 
thugs held one such act June 27 aimed at Julia Cecilia 
Delgado of the Cuban Liberal Party.  The GOC opened retail 
stores in front of the home of freed 75er Felix Bonne, to 
encourage neighbors' participation in acts of repudiation 
against him, but to date people have only shopped.  Martha 
Beatriz Roque met with two visiting Uruguayan senators. 
Oswaldo Paya rejected the Russian and Chinese transition 
models, criticized "savage capitalism," and wished U.S. 
students would rally in support of Cuba's political 
prisoners.  State Security agents harassed the wife of 
dissident doctor Darsi Ferrer.  Some 20 dissidents took part 
in a USINT-arranged videoconference June 29 with former CIA 
analyst Brian Latell.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (C) Over the past six months, the number of documented 
political prisoners in Cuba fell from 333 to 316, according 
to a not-yet-released report by Elizardo Sanchez's Cuban 
Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation. 
(Note: Another, less-credible source reports that 346 
political prisoners are currently held.  End Note.) Sanchez 
said the fact that the GOC has lowered the number of 
political prisoners for the first time in at least three 
years reflects the GOC's desire to bolster its international 
image.  He said the GOC is using other harsh tactics to keep 
dissidents in line, including more "acts of repudiation," 
beatings, warnings, interrogations and convictions for 
"dangerousness." 
 
GOON SQUAD COMES CALLING 
------------------------ 
 
¶3. (C) On June 27, USINT received a heads-up call stating 
that an act of repudiation was underway, aimed at Julia 
Cecilia Delgado of the outlawed Cuban Liberal Party.  Poloff 
and visiting GAO inspectors drove there; when we approached, 
two thuggish Communist militants hurried to the home's 
doorway, blocking access.  One wrote down our license plate 
number.  Six other thugs quickly arrived, and we drove away 
to another planned meeting.  Later, Delgado and other 
dissidents reported that the militants had entered the home 
and threatened her. 
 
BONNE AND ROQUE 
--------------- 
 
¶4. (C) Felix Bonne of the Assembly to Promote Civil Society 
(APSC), one of the 75 activists jailed in March 2003 (and 
subsequently freed on health grounds), told us June 29 that 
the GOC has failed to turn neighbors against him.  Bonne, 
whose backyard hosted a major dissident gathering in May 
2005, said the GOC recently set up four shops in front of his 
house.  He said the sandwich kiosk, vegetable stand, 
second-hand clothing store and tobacco outlet are aimed at 
attracting neighbors to "acts of repudiation" targeting 
Bonne.  He chuckled and explained, "My neighbors hate the 
Communists, so what they do is come and buy some cigarettes 
or whatever but don't take part in the act of repudiation." 
APSC leader Martha Beatriz Roque told us that on June 27, she 
received a visit at home by two Uruguayan senators looking 
into Cuba's human rights situation.  Roque did not identify 
them but said they left the island with a clear understanding 
of what Cuban dissidents are up against. 
 
PAYA REJECTS RUSSIAN, CHINESE MODELS 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶5. (C) Oswaldo Paya of the Christian Liberation Movement 
(MCL) and his lieutenant, Minervo Shil, met with us at length 
on June 27.  They said they had witnessed part of the act of 
repudiation against Delgado, and confirmed that some of the 
participants were State Security agents.  On another front, 
Paya said the Russian and Chinese transition models would not 
work for Cuba.  "We want to avoid the Russian model, in which 
the property was turned over to the nomenclature, which 
became the new mafia," he said.  "The Chinese changed their 
system and may have opened a bunch of markets for the Chinese 
hierarchy, but the Chinese are still slaves."  Paya also 
criticized what he called "savage capitalism," and said a 
future, democratic GOC will have to institutionalize such 
rights as universal medical care and the prevention of 
post-Castro housing evictions.  "We don't want people to go 
to a clinic and hear, 'Sorry, you have no money and we've 
been privatized'." 
 
FOREIGN SUPPORT CRUCIAL 
----------------------- 
 
¶6. (C) Paya said resolutions passed in the U.S. Congress and 
European Parliament calling for the liberation of Cuba's 
political prisoners are needed.  "But what would be even more 
profound, exponentially more important, would be a million 
university students saying the same thing at a rally on the 
streets of Washington," he said.  Paya complained that many 
journalists are criticizing his organization's "Program for 
All Cubans" document - a plan for a peaceful transition to 
democracy - "not because of its content, but because of its 
existence."  He said that because critics were unable to find 
fault with the Program, they were attacking its creators. 
 
DISSIDENT'S WIFE HARASSED 
------------------------- 
 
¶7. (C) Two State Security agents paid a June 23 visit to the 
home of dissident doctor Darsi Ferrer and when they found he 
was not home, they asked his wife, Yusnaimy Jorge, whether 
she would prefer to be questioned at a hotel.  Jorge, sensing 
a sexual undercurrent to the question, told them she would 
leave with them for questioning only when they produced an 
official citation.  The agents eventually left, but on June 
28, Ferrer was summoned to court, where he was threatened 
with imprisonment. 
 
LATELL VIDEOCONFERNCE WELL RECEIVED 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (C) Some 20 dissidents, including four freed 75ers, joined 
dozens of diplomats and journalists at a USINT-arranged 
videoconference June 29 with former CIA analyst Brian Latell, 
author of a book on the Cuban leadership.  Afterwards, the 
dissidents noted that frank discussion on Fidel and Raul 
Castro is taboo in all other settings, and said they found 
the event fascinating.  Some of the post-event chatter 
focused on Raul's succession prospects, and whether his 
perceived pragmatism signals the potential opening of a space 
for state-led entrepreneurship in Cuba. 
 
FARINAS HUNGER STRIKE CONTINUES 
------------------------------- 
 
¶9. (C) Dissident journalist Guillermo Farinas stretched his 
hunger strike to Day 155 on July 5.  He continued to receive 
intravenous fluids at a Santa Clara hospital and to demand 
Internet access.  The GOC maintained tight restrictions on 
his telephone and visitation rights.  The Italian Political 
Counselor told us that state telecom ETECSA, an Italian joint 
venture, approached Farinas with an offer to equip his home 
with connectivity, but that Farinas turned it down, saying 
his hunger strike was for open access for the public, not 
just himself.  Farinas' girlfriend, Noelia Pedraza, told us 
that Farinas was planning to intensify his hunger strike by 
rejecting any IV fluid that contains protein, but this could 
not be confirmed. 
PARMLY