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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HAVANA 000033 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE DEPT FOR WHA/CCA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/11/2017 
TAGS: PHUM KDEM SOCI CU
SUBJECT: CUBA'S VALDES TAMAYO, FREED 75ER, DIES AT HOSPITAL 
 
 
HAVANA 00000033  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Classified By: COM Michael Parmly for Reason 1.4(d). 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: Cuban pro-democracy activist Miguel Valdes 
Tamayo died at 50 on January 10 after battling heart 
problems.  Valdes, an executive of the Assembly to Promote 
Civil Society (APSC), was among the 75 activists rounded up 
and sentenced to long terms in March/April of 2003.  In June 
2004, the Cuban Government freed him on conditional 
probation, apparently for health reasons.  But Valdes did not 
cease his political activities until New Years Eve, when he 
was taken to the hospital after suffering sharp chest pains. 
We paid our respects January 11 along with two dozen 
dissidents and family members.  The GOC placed some 
restrictions on the funeral.  We do not expect the death to 
have any discernible impact on GOC policy on political 
prisoners.  Suggested press guidance provided in Paragraph 
Six. End Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) Miguel Valdes Tamayo of APSC lost a battle with heart 
disease late January 10 at a Havana hospital.  Valdes, 50, 
was among the 75 peaceful activists sentenced to long terms 
in the "Black Spring" crackdown of 2003.  In June 2004, the 
Cuban Government released him on conditional probation, on 
apparent health grounds.  But Valdes, a Havana native who 
worked as a TV repairman, did not halt his human-rights 
activities until December 31, when he was taken to the 
hospital after suffering acute chest pains.  On April 8, 
2003, Valdes was tried with Oscar Biscet Gonzalez, Angel Moya 
Acosta and Orlando Fundora Alvarez and sentenced to 15 years 
for "acts against the independence or territorial integrity 
of the state."  The trial transcripts state that Valdes was a 
man "disaffected by the Revolution" who "didn't participate 
in activities of the social organizations."  The court 
concluded that Valdes had served the United States by 
releasing information that distorted Cuba's economic and 
socio-political situation. 
 
¶3. (C) Valdes, who suffered from an enlarged heart, had not 
enjoyed good health for years.  At a June 28 meeting, he was 
sweating profusely and could talk for no more than one or two 
minutes before pausing to catch his breath.  However, he was 
well enough to attend a December 10 lunch at the COMR, where 
a "prisoners of conscience quilt" was on display, with one 
panel bearing his name.  Valdes was an active official of 
APSC and was involved in the launch of a human-rights 
newsletter.  He was also a frequent visitor to USINT's 
internet centers, and continued to use the centers even after 
Cuban authorities started harassing him nearly every time he 
left USINT.  In October, police detained him outside of USINT 
at least five times. 
 
¶4. (C) Valdes is the first 75er to pass away.  (Fifty-nine 
are still in prison; the other 16 were released on health 
grounds.)  We paid our respects at a Havana funeral home on 
January 11, where roughly two-dozen family members and 
dissidents, including freed 75er Carmelo Diaz Fernandez and 
at least three Ladies in White, had gathered.  The GOC 
informed them that although a hearse and two taxis would take 
the body and mourners to the cemetery later in the day, 
dissidents would not be allowed to enter the vehicles. 
 
¶5. (C) Valdes' death prompted a number of wives of political 
prisoners to think about their own husbands' mortality.  Elsa 
Morejon Hernandez, the wife of Biscet, noted that her 
husband, an inmate at Combinado del Este, has heart problems 
of his own, as well as abscessed gums that have swollen the 
right side of his face.  Ana Aguililla Saladrigas, the wife 
of Francisco Chaviano Gonzalez, among Cuba's longest-serving 
political prisoners, told us she had little hope that Valdes' 
death would help her husband's prospects for conditional 
probation, despite the fact that Chaviano has a lung tumor 
that appears malignant. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶6. (C) As the sad incident with the taxis suggests, the GOC 
is unlikely to regard Miguel Valdes Tamayo's death as 
anything more than the welcomed departure of an iconoclast 
and a dangerously free thinker.  In the fullness of time, we 
hope, citizens of a free Cuba will regard Valdes as one of 
the relatively few Cubans brave enough to stand up to 
totalitarianism in Castro's Cuba. 
 
SUGGESTED PRESS GUIDANCE 
------------------------ 
 
 
HAVANA 00000033  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶7. (U) 
 
QUESTION: WHAT ABOUT THIS CUBAN DISSIDENT WHO DIED, MIGUEL 
VALDES TAMAYO? WILL HIS DEATH CHANGE ANYTHING IN CUBA? 
 
ANSWER: MIGUEL VALDES TAMAYO WAS A BRAVE DEFENDER OF HUMAN 
RIGHTS.  HE, LIKE 74 OTHERS, WAS UNJUSTLY IMPRISONED IN 2003 
FOR PEACEFULLY PROMOTING RESPECT FOR THE BASIC RIGHTS THAT 
CUBANS ARE DENIED.  ALTHOUGH VALDES WAS RELEASED ON 
CONDITIONAL PROBATION IN JUNE 2004 FOR HEALTH REASONS, IT IS 
LIKELY THAT HIS INCARCERATION WORSENED HIS HEART PROBLEMS. 
FIFTY-NINE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE 75 REMAIN BEHIND BARS, WHERE 
THEY SUFFER FROM APPALLING CONDITIONS.  THE CUBAN GOVERNMENT 
SHOULD IMMEDIATELY RELEASE ALL 283 DOCUMENTED POLITICAL 
PRISONERS AND STOP PUTTING PEOPLE IN JAIL FOR PEACEFUL 
POLITICAL ACTIVITY. 
PARMLY