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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HAVANA 023515 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE DEPT FOR WHA/CCA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/15/2016 
TAGS: PHUM KDEM SOCI CU
SUBJECT: DISSIDENT DETAINED AFTER FAILING TO ANSWER SURVEY 
 
 
HAVANA 00023515  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Buddy Williams for Reason 1.4(d). 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: A recent incident involving Cuban dissident 
Niurka Brito Rivas illustrates how the Cuban regime sometimes 
attempts to incriminate its opponents in illegal activity. 
Brito spent three days in jail in October, without charges, 
after she failed to fill out a survey sent by her daughter's 
school that asked her to state her political affiliation. 
Identification with any political organization other than the 
Communist Party would likely prompt the GOC to jail Brito for 
"dangerousness," a statute carrying a sentence of up to four 
years.  Brito's Catch-22 - fail to respond to the parental 
"survey" and spend a few days in jail, or answer it honestly 
and get convicted of dangerousness - shows the creative 
genius of the Cuban Government.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (C) Niurka Brito Rivas, a former Communist Youth League 
member and part of the establishment, saw life take a 
dramatic turn in early 2005, a year after she became head of 
the Metropolitan Dairy Products Enterprise.  Brito discovered 
massive corruption, including the siphoning of gas for 
deliveries and the under-filling of one-kilogram cans of 
powdered milk -- pilfering that she said raked in 1,200 USD a 
month for top executives.  She reported the corruption to the 
Communist Party (CP) and was fired three days later.  In July 
2005, Brito briefed foreign reporters on her experience and 
infuriated the Cuban Government, whose enforcers pushed her 
down a flight of stairs, slashed her car tires repeatedly, 
denied her two children school lunches and warned Brito that 
she could lose custody.  A State Security official made clear 
that this was payback for "showing the press the errors of 
the revolution." 
 
FROM BAD TO WORSE 
----------------- 
 
¶3. (C) The whistleblower's woes increased in January 2006 
when her husband died following what she calls a botched 
colon-cancer operation.  In May, unable to find work and 
desperate for money, Brito swapped her well-located, 
three-bedroom apartment for a ramshackle studio and, under 
the table, 11,000 USD, money now keeping her household 
afloat.  In mid-October, Brito's 10-year-old daughter, 
Camila, returned from school with a survey that asked her 
guardian to identify, among other things, the guardian's 
political affiliation and "economic situation."  Brito 
visited the school and asked administrators if any other 
parent was being surveyed, and they said no.  Brito decided 
not to respond to the survey, knowing she could get in 
trouble for either identifying a political organization other 
than the CP, or stating the true source of her family's money. 
 
SUMMONED TO POLICE STATION 
-------------------------- 
 
¶4. (C) On October 17, Brito was summoned to a police station 
in Havana's Chinatown and, without explanation, jailed for 
three days.  She spent part of that time alone and part with 
one other cellmate, a woman apparently held on drug charges. 
On October 19, a police officer removed Brito from the cell 
and told her, "That big mouth of yours is going to be the 
death of you."  Brito was fined a token amount for 
"disrespecting authority" and allowed to head home. 
 
ONGOING HARASSMENT 
------------------ 
 
¶5. (C) For Brito, the incident represents just another form 
of harassment in an ongoing GOC campaign to make her life 
miserable for damaging the regime's image.  The fine is 
nothing, she said, compared with the hassle of being summoned 
every month to appear before the local police chief "along 
with all the prostitutes."  The GOC maintains an open dossier 
on Brito for "dangerousness," and at each monthly meeting, a 
member of the CP branch in Brito's neighborhood, and an 
official of Child Protective Services, inform the police 
chief about Brito's conduct.  Any reported infraction would 
likely lead to Brito being prosecuted, convicted and jailed 
for dangerousness.  Losing custody of her children could be 
another unfortunate consequence for Brito. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶6. (C) Dissidents like Brito pay the price, suffering 
indignities large and small, for differing with the regime. 
Brito's Catch-22 - fill out the parental "survey" honestly 
and get convicted of "dangerousness," or reject the survey 
and spend a few days in jail - shows not only the creative 
 
HAVANA 00023515  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
genius of the GOC but the tightrope Cuban dissidents have to 
walk.  Brito is lucky to have spent only three days in jail; 
according to the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and 
National Reconciliation, at least 2,000 women are currently 
behind bars in Cuba for "dangerousness," in the absence of 
any crime. 
WILLIAMS