Cuba's Ladies in White mourn leader 1 year later

Posted on Sunday, 10.14.12

Cuba's Ladies in White mourn leader 1 year later
By ANNE-MARIE GARCIA
Associated Press

HAVANA -- Cuba's Ladies in White dissident group on Sunday marked the
one-year anniversary of their co-founder's death with cries of "Laura
Pollan lives!" outside a Havana church.

Several dozen women dressed in white and carrying gladiolas also yelled
"freedom!" at their weekly protest march in a western neighborhood of
the Cuban capital.

Many wore T-shirts bearing the image of Pollan, who died Oct. 14, 2011
after a week in intensive care for a respiratory virus.

"We are in mourning today. We have a lot of pain," said Berta Soler, who
has become the group's most public face since Pollan died. "But we also
have great strength, because Laura is giving us great strength."

Cuban authorities call the dissidents "counterrevolutionaries" who take
money from Washington and anti-Castro interest groups to undermine the
island nation's Communist system.

The Ladies in White were formed in 2003 by wives and relatives seeking
the release of 75 dissidents rounded up that year and given long prison
sentences, including Hector Maseda, Pollan's widower.

The last 52 people in the group still behind bars seven years later were
freed under a 2010 deal brokered by the Roman Catholic Church. Most went
into exile in Spain along with their families.

But under Pollan's and Soler's leadership, the Ladies in White adopted a
more general political agenda and continued protesting with a mostly new
membership.

In 2005, the European Union awarded the Ladies in White its annual
Sakharov human rights prize.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/10/14/3049693/cubas-ladies-in-white-mourn-leader.html