Ladies in White
Ladies in White (Spanish: Damas de Blanco) is an opposition movement in Cuba consisting of spouses and other relatives of jailed dissidents. The women protest the imprisonments by attending Mass each Sunday wearing white dresses and then silently walking through the streets dressed in white clothing. The color white is chosen to symbolize peace.
The movement received the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought from the European Parliament in 2005.
Origins
During the Black Spring in 2003, the Cuban government arrested and summarily tried and sentenced 75 human rights defenders, independent journalists, and librarians to terms of up to 28 years in prison.[1]
For their part, the Cuban government accused the 75 individuals of "acts against the independence or the territorial integrity of the state", including belonging to "illegal organizations", accepting money from the United States Interests Section in Havana and of "hijacking", "terrorist activities", and collaborating with foreign media.[2] In the view of The Committee to Protect Journalists, The Black Spring violated the most basic norms of international law, including Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees everyone the right to "seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice."[3]
The Ladies in White group was formed two weeks after the arrests.[4] Relatives of the prisoners began gathering on Sundays at St. Rita's Church in Havana to pray for their relatives. After each Mass, they began a ritual procession from the church to a nearby park. The white clothing they wear is reminiscent of the Argentine Madres de Plaza de Mayo, who used a similar strategy to demand information about their missing children from the 1970s military junta. Each marcher wears a button with a photo of her jailed relative and the number of years to which he has been sentenced.
Notable members
The Sakharov Prize
In 2005, the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought was awarded jointly to Reporters without Borders, Nigerian human rights lawyer Huawa Ibrahim, and the Ladies in White. Five of the leaders of the movement were selected to receive the prize: Laura Pollán, whose husband Hector Maseda is serving a 20-year sentence; Miriam Leiva, whose husband Oscar Espinosa Chepe has been conditionally released due to a serious illness; Berta Soler, whose husband Angel Moya Acosta is serving 20 years; Loida Valdes, whose husband Alfredo Felipe Fuentes was sentenced to 26 years; and Julia Núñez, whose husband Adolfo Fernández Saínz is serving 15 years. Some of the women were prevented from visiting their husbands to tell them of the award, but Laura Pollán told the Wall Street Journal that those who were told "are very happy and very proud." [1]
The Cuban government barred the group's leaders from attending the Sakharov Prize award ceremony in Strasbourg, France.
Support for Ladies in White
Tens of thousands march for Ladies in White, Gloria Estefan lead a march in Miami while an otehr march in and Las Angles is planed. In support of the pro-democratic group.[6]
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/508/index.html?media_id=12007015&genre_id=4216#ixzz0jTVBZSSk
Attacks on Ladies in White
Sizable mobs have attacked the Ladies in White, yelling insults at them, and assisting the police to throw them into police buses.[7] Several of the members report that they have been detained and threatened by the police and that their homes have been ransacked.[citation needed] On Palm Sunday in 2005, the pro-government Federation of Cuban Women sent 150 women to counter-protest the group. According to a post in insurgente.org, a Marxist internationalist website, the importance, level of support and legitimacy of the Ladies in White is highly questionable.[8]
Criticism
Hebe de Bonafini, president of the Argentine Madres de Plaza de Mayo, has criticized the symbolic use of the white scarf, stating "Our white scarf symbolises life while those women, that you are talking about Ladies in White, represent death." Bonafini went on to remark that "the so-called Ladies in White defend the terrorism of the United States, the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo symbolise our love for our children who were murdered by tyrants imposed by the United States."[9][10]
News
- "Wives of political prisoners march in Cuba". AP. March 18, 2006.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - "Ladies in White march in Cuba, pay price for disobedience". Chicago Tribune. March 3, 2006.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - "Dissidents' wives hit Castro, seek release". Agence France Presse. December 27, 2005.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - "Ladies in White stopped from collecting EU award". AP. December 14, 2005.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - "Ladies in White Fight for Imprisoned Husbands". Inter Press Service. October 25, 2004.
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References
- ^ "Cuba's "Ladies in White"". Human Rights First.
- ^ Rule of Law and Cuba from Florida State University
- ^ Carlos Lauria, Monica Campbell, and María Salazar (March 18, 2008). "Cuba's Long Black Spring". The Committee To Protect Journalists.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Rule of Law and Cuba
- ^ "Cuba arrests Ladies in White".
- ^ http://www.miamiherald.com/508/index.html?media_id=12007015&genre_id=4216
- ^ "Cuba arrests Ladies in White".
- ^ inSurGente.org - Content
- ^ Template:Fr Cuba Solidarity Project. Entrevue avec Hebe de Bonafini
- ^ Aporrea, interview with Hebe de Bonafini
See also
External links
- Damas de Blanco (Ladies in White in Spanish)
- Ladies, Ibrahim and Reporters joint Sakharov prize winners European Parliament
- Reporters without Frontiers - Cuba Annual report, 2005.
- Sentencing documents - From dissidents' trials.