Human rights advocate and film producer
Posted: September 2, 2010 11:19 AM
Scourge of the Castros: Cuba's Ladies Courageous
HAVANA, CUBA -- This coming Sunday a group of women, dressed in white
and holding flowers, will walk quietly down the Quinta Avenida -- Fifth
Avenue. They have done this every Sunday for the past seven years. Even
during inclement weather and hurricane season, these unlikely
demonstrators march, advocating for the release of innocent men held in
Cuban government prisons. The Ladies in White, or "Las Damas de Blanco,"
is a group of wives, daughters, sisters, and mothers of political
prisoners arrested in Cuba's "Black Spring," a government crackdown on
dissent that took place March 18-20, 2003. Seventy-five independent
journalists, librarians, and democracy and human rights activists were
arrested and sentenced -- some to as many as 28 years in prison.
Last month, the Catholic Archdiocese of Cuba announced that it had
brokered a deal with the Cuban government and some of the prisoners
would be freed. At the time, 52 Black Spring prisoners remained in jail
and were to be freed over the course of the coming months. Their release
is a concession to unprecedented pressure on the Cuban government
following a flurry of public relations disasters: first, the death of
hunger striker Orlando Zapata Tamayo; then the ensuing hunger strike of
Guillermo Fariñas; and lastly the globally-publicized attacks on
dissenters including world-renowned blogger Yoani Sánchez.
But their liberation is unquestionably a result of the non-violent
action of the Ladies in White. Their peaceful protest has garnered
worldwide attention and exposed the cruelty behind Cuba's carefully
crafted international facade. "The whole world is awakening and removing
its blindfold with regards to Cuba," says Laura Pollán who leads them.
Pollán is resolute in how critical things are at this moment in Cuba and
she emphasizes how important it is that nobody looks away.
In a documentary short filmed recently in Havana and released today by
the Human Rights Foundation, the Ladies in White state that they will
march, every single Sunday, until all of the Black Spring prisoners are
free. "We will never give up," says Pollán.
The slow trickle of prisoners being released, however, is not a pardon,
and is by no means, unconditional. Of the 26 prisoners freed since July,
all have been banished to Spain, and one prisoner was exiled to the
United States to receive medical treatment.
Although release from Cuba's notorious prisons is cause for celebration,
especially for these innocent men and their families, it is not a sign
that things are improving in Cuba. It is only the next act in the
regime's cyclical and opportunistic show, by which every few years the
dictatorial regime releases a few high-profile political prisoners in
return for favorable editorials in the foreign media and praise from
nostalgic "revolutionaries" around the world.
Under Cuban law, writing anything critical of the government is a
punishable offense. In some cases it takes less than that: many are
locked away under an Orwellian criminal code, for their "potential" to
commit a crime. The Black Spring survivors may be leaving Cuba, but as
the totalitarian legal system remains unchanged, their prison cells can
surely be used tomorrow by a new crop of innocent individuals -- without
trial and without ever having committed a crime.
The Black Spring prisoners are still criminals in the eyes of the Cuban
government -- criticism of the Castro regime remains an unforgivable,
treasonous offense. Their exile does not exonerate them, and were they
given the chance to remain in Cuba, they would continue to be harassed
and face further persecution from the government and its supporters.
At least 5 of the prisoners have refused exile from Cuba. They will
accept nothing less than an unconditional release. They are willing to
sacrifice their freedom and remain imprisoned to draw attention to the
dire human rights situation there.
Just as the Ladies in White are an inspiring reminder of the peaceful
struggle of dissidents in Cuba -- and the gains that can be made from
persistence and audacity -- so, too, should the world be as equally
determined to pressure Cuba toward a real transition to democracy, and
respect for human rights. To achieve this requires far more than freeing
space in Castro's gulag to make room for other innocent individuals.
The freedom granted to those who should have never had it robbed from
them is a welcome step. But the heart of the problem remains: the Castro
brothers' tyranny is no different and international actors mustn't be
fooled into believing that Raúl is any less of a despot than Fidel. He
has inherited his brother's house of tyranny, and has changed nothing
but the window dressing. And the curtains aren't white. They're red.
Thor Halvorssen is President if the New York-based Human Rights
Foundation and founder of the Oslo Freedom Forum. The HRF video
featuring the Ladies in White can be seen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vWNAHLOzVk
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thor-halvorssen/scourge-of-the-castros-cu_b_703708.html
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