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C O N F I D E N T I A L HAVANA 017126 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE DEPT FOR WHA/CCA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/30/2016 
TAGS: PHUM KDEM SOCI CU
SUBJECT: CUBAN ACTIVISTS REACHING OUT TO NAM PARTICIPANTS 
 
REF: HAVANA 15674 
 
Classified By: COM Michael E. Parmly for Reason 1.4(d). 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: Cuba's "Ladies in White" have started 
distributing a letter to nations that will participate in or 
observe Havana's September 11-16 meeting of the Non-Aligned 
Movement.  The letter calls on foreign governments to request 
the immediate, unconditional liberation of Cuba's peaceful 
political prisoners.  Other human rights organizations, 
including Martha Beatriz Roque's Assembly to Promote Civil 
Society ("Asamblea"), are also reaching out to Europeans and 
Latin Americans.  Roque told us August 30 that she had heard 
that the Government of Spain will send a high-level 
delegation.  Dissident doctor Darsi Ferrer is planning to 
stage a demonstration in central Havana shortly before the 
(Sept. 15-16) summit, and the "Ladies in White" plan to hold 
a conspicuous protest march on September 16.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (C) The "Ladies in White" - relatives of Cuban political 
prisoners - have started contacting Governments that will 
take part in or observe September's NAM meetings in Havana. 
In a one-page letter, the group calls for the release of all 
peaceful political prisoners, but makes a special appeal for 
the 60 who remain in prison following the 2003 crackdown, in 
which the GOC arrested, quickly tried and convicted 75 
peaceful activists.  The "Ladies" are also encouraging 
foreign governments to urge the GOC not to return to prison 
the twelve "75ers" currently out on conditional probation. 
Leading "Lady" Laura Pollan told us on August 24 that her 
group will hold a rare Saturday march September 16 through a 
Havana district popular with foreign visitors. (Note: It 
would be among the Ladies' highest-profile marches yet, and 
occur on the summit's final day, when many foreign visitors 
are likely to be in the area. End Note.) 
 
¶3. (C) Pro-democracy activist Martha Beatriz Roque told us 
August 30 that she had heard from a Slovak diplomat that the 
Government of Spain is planning to dispatch a high-level 
delegation to the NAM, probably led by an undersecretary of 
state.  Roque said she had heard elsewhere that the 
Government of Belgium might also send a delegation.  Apart 
from Spain, Belgium and Russia, Roque said, all other 
European nations with missions in Havana are expected to send 
their Chiefs of Mission as observers. We're seeing the 
Spanish DCM on Friday and will double-check. 
 
¶4. (C) Roque said that on the NAM sidelines, the Asamblea 
hopes to hold meetings with high-level Latin American 
delegations, "hopefully including Peru's foreign minister," 
to discuss Cuba's human rights situation.  She added that the 
Asamblea will soon start visiting Western embassies in Havana 
- beginning with Slovakia's on August 31 - to request an 
official answer to the Asamblea's "Day After" transition 
plan.  (The document, reported reftel, outlines the group's 
vision for the period between the fall of the current regime 
and the holding of free elections.  It emphasizes social, 
political and economic restoration, envisions guaranteed 
liberties and calls for governmental decentralization.) 
 
¶5. (C) Dissident doctor Darsi Ferrer, who issued a public 
appeal August 9 for Cubans to halt cooperation with the 
regime, told us August 24 that he plans to lead a group of 20 
activists in a demonstration shortly before the start of the 
NAM meetings.  Ferrer is pushing ahead with his campaign for 
a plebiscite on whether the Cuban people should accept the 
transfer of power to General Raul Castro. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶6. (C) The release of political prisoners is the issue on 
which the entire pro-democracy opposition agrees; ditto for 
ourselves and the Europeans.  The NAM is a perfect venue to 
publicize the plight of political prisoners. 
PARMLY