By Maria Elena Salinas
King Features Syndicate
Posted: 04/03/2010 01:00:00 AM MDT
Ladies dressed in white, marching through the streets of Havana, Cuba,
in silence: the purest of protests. Yet a group of Cuban women known as
"Las Damas de Blanco," or "Ladies in White," have been victims of cruel
repression by supporters of the communist government on the island. But
now they are not alone.
Last week, tens of thousands of people marched on the streets of Miami's
Little Havana to show their support for the Ladies in White and their
cause. "Cubans and non-Cubans alike that live in liberty need to take
the opportunity at this moment in history to come together and show them
that we care," said Cuban-American singer Gloria Estefan, who, along
with her husband, music producer Emilio Estefan, organized the first of
several marches.
Estefan was motivated by the brutal images on television of the women
being harassed by pro-government protesters who insulted them as they
marched peacefully down the street, as they have done for years, asking
for the release of their loved ones. The images show them being pushed
and shoved, yelled at, dragged and taken away in buses by security forces.
Las Damas de Blanco spontaneously organized in April 2003, shortly after
a series of mock trials in which 75 dissidents, independent journalists
and human-rights activists were sentenced to jail terms that range from
six to 30 years. They had been rounded up in a series of raids weeks
earlier, in what came to be known as The Black Spring of 2003, and were
accused of conspiring against the "independence and integrity of Cuba"
with the "Northern Empire," as the Cuban government refers to the United
States.
Many of those detained were coordinators of the Varela Project, an
effort by dissidents to request democratic changes on the island by
gathering 10,000 signatures, as required by the Cuban Constitution. They
were charged with subversive activities, as were many others who wrote,
edited and published an independent magazine.
Since then, the Ladies in White have been holding vigils, taking walks
along the streets of several Cuban cities, holding a flower or a picture
of their husbands, brothers or sons whom they consider unfairly
detained. They remain silent throughout, hoping their peaceful and
passive form of protest will help gain their loved ones freedom.
In the past weeks, their efforts have been supported by two brave men
who risked their lives in the name of the prisoners of conscience who
have fallen ill under detention. After 82 days on a hunger strike,
Orlando Zapata, a 42- year-old plumber, died Feb. 23 while in prison.
Journalist and human- rights activist Guillermo Farinas, after three
weeks on a hunger strike, said he was willing to die if it would call
attention to the plight of his jailed compatriots.
The world has taken notice. There has been international condemnation
and outcries from the European Union and the U.S. State Department
asking the Cuban government to release all political prisoners.
The day before the march in Miami in support of the Ladies in White,
President Barack Obama put out a statement of support for the
human-rights struggle in Cuba. "Recent events in Cuba, including the
tragic death of Orlando Zapata Tamayo, the repression visited upon Las
Damas de Blanco, and the intensified harassment of those who dare to
give voice to the desires of their fellow Cubans, are deeply
disturbing," said the president. "These events underscore that instead
of embracing an opportunity to enter a new era, Cuban authorities
continue to respond to the aspirations of the Cuban people with a
clenched fist."
Cuban exiles and dissidents on the island have gone to great lengths to
try to bring about democratic changes. Every year they ask the same
question: When will freedom come to the Cuban people? Wouldn't it be
ironic if a group of women dressed in white, with their silence, their
dignity and their courage, could accomplish what the most powerful
politicians have failed to do?
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