Ladies in White protesting on 2 May 2010
The wives and mothers of political prisoners held in Cuba have been
allowed to hold their weekly protest for the first time in three weeks.
Government supporters had blocked the women, known as Ladies in White,
from marching for the past two Sundays.
The archbishop of Havana said he had intervened on behalf of the women.
Cardinal Jaime Ortega said the authorities had agreed to allow the
marches during the month of May, after which they would review their
decision.
New approach
BBC Mundo's Havana correspondent Fernando Ravsberg said this week's
protest passed off without incident.
One of the 12 Ladies in White protesting on Sunday, Berta Soler, told
reporters that she thought "the government had started to listen and to
respond without resorting to violence."
Cardinal Jaime Ortega said the Cuban government's willingness to
negotiate was "a new way of acting".
He said that previously, such requests would have been met with silence.
Last Sunday, the women were blocked from marching by government
supporters who corralled them into a park, where they shouted insults at
them for hours.
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