"It will be an honor to go in representation of the Ladies in White and above all my mother, Laura Pollan," said Laura Labrada. Pollan, the group's co-founder and most prominent leader at the time, died in October 2011.
This Sunday, if they are allowed to gather there, the Ladies in White will make a special pilgrimage around Santa Rita Church as a tribute to Laura Pollan. From the early hours of the morning, at their headquarters in Neptune Street, they will also open the doors to all who wish to pay their respectWhen her husband was arrested during the so-called Black Spring of 2003, Laura Pollan's life experienced a radical change. She rose from anonymity and domestic routine to be at the center of praise from democratizing forces and insults from the official press., but the government did not allow them to travel to participate in the award ceremony. However, they continued their peregrinations every Sunday and also other activities, principally in the city of Havana. The headquarters of the group came to be the humble home of Laura Pollan, in Neptune Street.being "employees of the Empire" or categorizing them with the aggressive epithet, "Ladies in Green." Reputation assassination and a public stoning of their image have been among the methods most used against the Ladies in White. Laura Pollan was a favorite and systematic target of these defamations.were released. Many went into exile in Spain and a few others decided to remain in Cuba. The Ladies in White had to redefine their civic role and chose, then, a Human Rights movement that now transcends their original precepts. The headquarters of the movement continues to be the home of Laura Pollan.When Laura Pollan was admitted to a Havana hospital emergency room, very few believed that her situation was terminal. The fortitude that animated this little woman made us believe she would recover quickly. But on the night of October 14 the news of her death dismayed the entire Cuban dissident comThe peaceful woman's movement Laura Pollan helped to conceive and build, has redefined itself and shows signs of growth. It seems unlikely that the Cuban government can eradicate the Ladies in White with acts of repudiation, with defamation and with brief arrests. But nor does the day seem near when
The island's small opposition community is already reeling from the death of two leading voices in less than a year. Veteran dissident Oswaldo Paya was killed in a car accident in July, and Ladies in White founder Laura Pollan died of heart failure in October 2011.
confess that when I came upon the news, my guts twisted. Without reading much more than a headline, I immediately wondered about the circumstances of Pays death. (The late Laura Pollan, leader of the Ladies in White, had also worried about being run off the road by unidentified government agents.)
"It's less than a year since we lost Laura Pollan, a charismatic leader who could systematically bring people onto the streets. Oswaldo Paya was the other one," says Eugenio Leal, who runs an anti-government blog.
His death, however, follows that of fellow dissident Laura Pollan, the founder and leader of the Ladies in White, who died in a Havana hospital in October 2011 after suffering acute respiratory distress.
Date: Jul 22, 2012
Category: World
Source: Google
Cuba arrests 70 Ladies in White dissidents before pope's visit
They had gathered at the former home of their dead leader, Laura Pollan, over the weekend to commemorate the anniversary of the arrests of 75 government opponents in 2003, Otero said. The Ladies in White, or Damas de Blanco in Spanish, are the wives and mothers of the 75.
On Monday morning, Soler appeared at the home of the late Ladies in White co-founder Laura Pollan, which the group uses as a base of operations. She said the protesters were told the wide Havana thoroughfare where they hold their weekly post-Mass demonstrations would be off-limits. It was not clear,