Do You Know
Who Are The Ladies In White?
Seventy human rights defenders, independent journalists, and independent
librarians were
arrested by the Cuban government in the Spring of
2003. These were sentenced to 28 years in prison.
Two
weeks after the arrest, The Ladies in White group was formed. These women are
relatives of the prisoners arrested and sentenced. Their white attire is
reminiscent of the Argentine Madres de Plaza de Mayo, mothers who dressed in
white demanding information about their missing children from the 1970s
military junta. The color white was also chosen to symbolize peace. These
ladies bravely protest the imprisonment of their loved ones by attending Mass
each Sunday wearing white and then walking through the streets.
Each of the women, of The Ladies in White, wears a button with a picture
of her jailed relative and the number of years to which he has been sentenced.
In
2005 the movement received the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought from the
European Parliament.
The group's leader, Bertha Soler, hopes
to meet with Pope Benedict, to deliver a list of 46 people they consider
political prisoners in Cuba, and ask him to intercede on their behalf.
*
Today, I've searched for white clothes in my closet. My body draped with my identification with the women of Cuba, The Ladies In White.
This day, though miles away, my being is at half-mast. I extend my heart
to you, my sisters in Cuba. ¡Libertad! ¡Libertad!
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