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Ladies in White

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Ladies in White (Damas de Blanco) is a movement in Cuba made up of the spouses and other relatives of opponents of the government of Fidel Castro. The women protest the imprisonment of political opponents by attending Mass each Sunday wearing white dresses and then silently walking through the streets. 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

The Ladies in White group was formed two weeks after the 2003 arrests of 75 journalists and political opponents by the Cuban government on charges of collaborating with the US Interests Section. Relatives of the prisoners began gathering on Sundays at St. Rita's Church in Havana to pray for their jailed loved ones. 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. The Madres de Plaza de Mayo have repeatedly confirmed their support for the Cuban government and reject for the Damas de Blanco, which they see as puppets of imperialism.

The Cuban government and Ladies in White

The Cuban government has organized groups of its supporters to counter their protests. Several of the members report that they have been detained and threatened by the police and that their homes have been ransacked. On Palm Sunday in 2005, the pro-government Federation of Cuban Women sent 150 women to counter the group.

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."

The Cuban government barred the group's leaders from attending the Sakharov Prize award ceremony in Strasbourg, France.

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