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DE RUEHUB #3579/01 3402239
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P 062239Z DEC 06
FM USINT HAVANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0977
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES PRIORITY
RUEHWH/WESTERN HEMISPHERIC AFFAIRS DIPL POSTS PRIORITY
RUMIAAA/USCINCSO MIAMI FL PRIORITY
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S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 HAVANA 023579 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE DEPT FOR WHA/CCA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/06/2016 
TAGS: PHUM KDEM SOCI CU
SUBJECT: CUBAN 75ER PALACIOS GAINS CONDITIONAL RELEASE 
 
REF: HAVANA 23544 
 
HAVANA 00023579  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Buddy Williams for 1.4(d). 
 
¶1. (S) Summary: The Cuban Government granted conditional 
probation December 6 to self-described pro-democracy activist 
Hector Palacios Ruiz, allowing him to head home from the 
Havana hospital where he says he spent the last three years. 
Palacios, apparently freed on health grounds, belongs to the 
organization All United, led by Vladimiro Roca.  Palacios, 
who has heart and circulatory issues, is one of the 75 
activists rounded up and jailed in a March 2003 crackdown. 
His release marks the first time a 75er has been freed on 
health grounds since Raul Castro gained power on July 31. 
Fifty-nine 75ers remain behind bars.  Palacios may be a State 
Security agent posing as an activist, and some freed 75ers 
responded to his release with skepticism.  Palacios said he 
was held in solitary confinement in a cell at Carlos Finlay 
hospital, but his account could not be corroborated.  His 
release follows those of at least five political detainees, 
at least two of whom were accused of having ties to State 
Security.  The Raul Castro-led GOC is also having new 
political opponents detained, including Ahmed Rodriguez 
Albacia, the brave activist taken into custody December 4 
following an opposition youth forum.  Suggested press 
guidance follows in Paragraph 7.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (C) Hector Palacios Ruiz, sentenced to 25 years on March 
31, 2003 for crimes against state security, returned from the 
penal wing of Carlos Finlay Hospital to his Havana home on 
December 6.  At 10 a.m., he told us by phone, authorities 
informed him that the Cuban Government had granted him 
conditional probation.  Palacios, a 65-year-old Villa Clara 
native, told us his health is not good but that he is elated 
about regaining his freedom.  He said he had met with many 
reporters and invited us to meet sometime soon. 
 
¶3. (U) Palacios is the first 75er to be freed on health 
grounds since Raul Castro assumed control of the GOC on July 
¶31.  59 of the 75 peaceful activists jailed in the "Black 
Spring" crackdown remain in prison. 
 
¶4. (S) Veteran activist and probationed 75er Martha Beatriz 
Roque of the Assembly to Promote Civil Society (APSC), who 
spent more than one year imprisoned at Finlay, visited 
Palacios at his home on December 6.  Roque said he had gained 
weight and could stand to lose at least 40 pounds.  She noted 
that Palacios said he had spent the last three years alone in 
Cell No. 1 at Finlay's penal wing.  Roque said: "During my 
time there, inmates were not allowed to have a cell to 
themselves."  She added: "I don't think he was ever truly 
imprisoned."  Another APSC member and probationed 75er, Felix 
Bonne Carcassas, told us he had little doubt that Palacios 
works for State Security.  He told us a story we had heard 
several times before, about activists bumping into Palacios 
in the street in eastern Cuba when Palacios was supposed to 
be in prison. 
 
¶5. (S) Palacios' release followed the release in recent weeks 
of five political activists who were held without charge 
since July 2005.  Among these five were Francisco Moure 
Saladrigas and Ricardo Medina Salabarria; both are somewhat 
tainted, according to USINT files.  Moure was accused of 
serving as a provocateur at the May 20, 2005 APSC dissident 
gathering; he stood in the middle of the field and shouted, 
"Viva George Bush!"  (Detractors said the outburst, filmed by 
hidden GOC videocameras, enabled the regime to "Americanize" 
the gathering.)  Medina, an Orthodox Catholic priest, is 
affiliated with Palacios.  A Catholic priest once told us 
that Medina was expelled from a seminary for misconduct. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶6. (S) We are unable to draw definitive conclusions on the 
ultimate loyalties of Palacios, Moure and Medina, but the 
evidence raises a number of red flags and adds to our 
existing skepticism over the releases.  Even if the three 
were untainted, the release of a small number of political 
detainees/prisoners does not represent a change in the 
fundamental nature of the regime.  After all, the GOC is 
still arresting Cubans for their beliefs or peaceful 
political activities, based on draconian security laws. 
 
¶7. (SBU/NF) SUGGGESTED CONTINGENCY PRESS GUIDANCE: 
Q: Any comment on the Cuban Government's release of Hector 
Palacios, one of the 75ers?  Is this a pattern?  Any 
indication that Raul Castro will release more political 
 
HAVANA 00023579  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
prisoners? 
 
A: Hector Palacios Ruiz has been granted conditional 
probation.  Like other 75ers freed on health grounds, he 
could be returned to prison at any time. The fact is, Cuba is 
home to at least 300 documented political prisoners, and 
thousands of others are behind bars for "dangerousness," in 
the absence of any crime.  The Cuban Government should 
release all political prisoners and detainees, and allow the 
Cuban people to form political parties and choose their own 
leaders. 
 
If pressed: 
We would draw your attention to the case of Cuban youth 
activist Ahmed Rodriguez Albacia.  He woke up on December 4 
to find dozens of State Security officials descending upon 
his home.  They searched through his belongings for three 
hours, then hauled him off to a detention center.  He has not 
been charged with any crime.  Officials told his mother, 
Margarita Albacia, that he will spend between one week and 
one year at the detention center. 
WILLIAMS