VZCZCXRO6905
RR RUEHAG RUEHROV
DE RUEHUB #0022/01 0082047
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 082047Z JAN 07 ZDK DUE TO NUMEROUS SERVICES
FM USINT HAVANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1104
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES
RUEHWH/WESTERN HEMISPHERIC AFFAIRS DIPL POSTS
RUCOWCV/CCGDSEVEN MIAMI FL
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUESDM/JTLO MIAMI FL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HAVANA 000022 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE DEPT FOR WHA/CCA AND DRL A/S LOWENKRON 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/08/2017 
TAGS: PHUM KDEM SOCI CU
SUBJECT: POLITICAL PRISONERS DESCRIBE ANGUISH IN CAMAGUEY 
 
 
HAVANA 00000022  001.3 OF 002 
 
 
Classified By: COM Michael Parmly for Reason 1.4(d). 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: In a letter smuggled out of Cuba's infamous 
Kilo 7 prison in Camaguey, 16 political prisoners have 
denounced "barbaric" conditions, including violent and 
humiliating repression, a shortage of food, medical neglect 
and a visitation system "designed to destroy family ties." 
The letter, dated January 1, calls on foreign governments and 
the Human Rights Council to intercede with the Cuban 
Government to address the situation.  At prisons in Holguin 
and Santiago, other political prisoners are suffering, family 
members told us on January 7.  The Cuban Commission for Human 
Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN) will release a 
report on January 9 that puts the number of documented 
political prisoners at 283.  Although this represents a 
decline, the GOC in 2006 stepped up its intimidation of human 
rights activists through warnings, citations and 
interrogations.  The Cuban Foreign Ministry has published a 
series of books on Cuba's human rights record; the chapter on 
prisons calls the GOC's prison system "profoundly humane" and 
subject to distortion by the United States.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Sixteen political prisoners, including independent 
journalist Normando Hernandez and Alfredo Pulido of the 
Christian Liberation Movement (MCL), have released a letter 
condemning wretched conditions at Camaguey's Kilo 7 prison. 
The two-page letter, addressed to the UN Human Rights Council 
and diplomatic offices in Havana, harshly criticizes the 
penitentiary for its repressive staff, shortage of food, 
overcrowding, poor hygiene, and lack basic materials such as 
towels and sheets.  The prisoners said that what little food 
is available is poorly prepared, and that the prison staff 
uses hunger as a political tool.  "If you attend ideological 
classes, you get to eat lunch," the letter explains.  But not 
all inmates go hungry; double rations are available to common 
prisoners who do the guards' bidding, including ganging up on 
and even stabbing prisoners who fail to toe the line. 
 
DAILY BEATINGS 
-------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Kilo 7's guards do not outsource all of the 
violence, however.  According to the letter, prisoners are 
beaten every day, and guards impose discipline through 
violence and physical and verbal mistreatment.  "Blood and 
punches are the symbol of (warden) Didier Fundora Perez." 
The signers of the letter also condemned the practice of 
forcing prisoners to march naked past guards, and 
occasionally being required to squat and/or spread their 
buttocks.  The letter adds that the intensity of the 
repression contributes to the high number of suicide attempts 
and acts of self-mutilation at the prison. 
 
JAILHOUSE DENTISTRY 
------------------- 
 
¶4. (C) Prisoners alleged serious deficiencies in medical care 
at Kilo 7, regarded as Cuba's worst prison by prison expert 
and former political prisoner Elizardo Sanchez.  Inmates at 
the Camaguey prison wait years for operations, and those 
suffering from intense tooth pain perform their own 
extractions using wire.  The visitation system, the letter 
says, is "designed to destroy family ties," and subjects even 
senior citizens and children to mistreatment.  Correspondence 
is read and censored.  Telephone access is limited and in 
some cases banned outright. 
 
SILENCE FROM HOLGUIN PRISON 
--------------------------- 
 
¶5. (C) At Holguin Provincial Prison, political prisoner 
Alfredo Dominguez of the MCL has been incommunicado for more 
than a month, his wife told us on January 7.  She said that 
at her last prison visit, on December 5, Dominguez informed 
her that he and three other political prisoners would stage a 
hunger strike on December 9, 10 and 11, to mark International 
Human Rights Day.  His wife believes that Dominguez lost his 
phone privileges as a result of the hunger strike.  She said 
she had been told by relatives of other prisoners at Holguin 
that when her home telephone number is dialed from the 
prison, the caller is told the line is out of service or the 
number is unassigned. 
 
AT SANTIAGO PRISON, HEALTH WOES 
------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (C) At the Santiago prison of Aguadores, Dr. Ricardo Silva 
 
HAVANA 00000022  002.3 OF 002 
 
 
of the MCL enjoys phone privileges.  But as his mother told 
us on January 7, Dr. Silva is dealing with myriad health 
woes, including giardia and optical nerve damage.  On the 
bright side, the mother said, the GOC recently informed the 
family that Aguadores' visitation system would soon be 
changed; instead of every 45 days, the family would be 
permitted a monthly visit.  (Note: Many political prisoners 
are granted visits on a less frequent basis.  Grass-roots 
activist Angel Moya Acosta, for instance, is allowed only 
quarterly visits.  In some cases, the family visits are 
banned entirely; such was the case for most of the 
incarceration of Hector Palacios, who was released on 
conditional probation on December 6.  End Note.) 
 
GOC DENIES PROBLEMS, ACCUSES U.S. 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (U) In late December, the GOC delivered to each accredited 
diplomatic mission in Havana a series of books produced by 
the Cuban Foreign Ministry and titled, "Cuba and Human 
Rights: The Upsurge in the Policy of Hostility and Aggression 
against the Cuban People by the Administration of George W. 
Bush."  In the chapter on prisons (septel), the GOC claims to 
have established a "profoundly humane" prison system, 
characterized by respect for the law.  The book accuses the 
United States of "inventing images of horrible conditions" 
and a sub-human diet at prisons, and of denouncing "false 
shortages." 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶8. (C) In the absence of access to Cuban prisons by Human 
Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the International 
Committee of the Red Cross, letters smuggled out of prisons 
are enlightening, if disturbing.  The report on Kilo 7 tracks 
with what we have heard about conditions at other Cuban 
prisons.  Elizardo Sanchez's CCDHRN will release a report on 
January 9 stating that the number of political prisoners 
documented by the CCDHRN at the end of 2006 stood at 283. 
Although this marks a reduction from the year-earlier figure 
of 333, the GOC stepped up its intimidation of dissidents in 
2006 through increased reliance on official warnings, 
citations and interrogations. 
 
¶9. (C) The Kilo 7 account is among the most authoritative and 
compelling reports we have received in recent months from 
inside a Cuban prison.  It highlights a problem long known to 
Cuba watchers, and which we describe at length in the 
forthcoming Human Rights Report.  Post recommends that at 
Washington's rollout of the HRR, this issue be highlighted. 
 
¶10. (C) Post also recommends that Washington agencies add to 
their databases and watchlists the name of Didier Fundora 
Perez, warden at Kilo 7. 
PARMLY