Posted on 12/18/2005 6:42:51 AM PST by kellynla
When Fidel Castro ordered the lockup of 75 journalists, librarians and democracy advocates in March 2003, he made a calculation that despite an outcry from abroad at the time, his captives, sentenced to prison terms as long as 28 years, would soon enough be forgotten.
International silence has been Fidel's best friend over five decades of state terror. At home he counted on the manner of the 2003 crackdown--a terrifying wave of jackboot repression--to weaken his critics, who were growing far too brazen for his taste.
What he didn't anticipate was the bravery and persistence of the Ladies in White--a band composed of mothers, wives, sisters and daughters of his prisoners--and the voice they would find, both at home and abroad, without weapons or resources.
This week, Cuba's Ladies in White were awarded the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize honoring freedom of thought, making them the international symbol of the Cuban cry for help. They share the prize with Reporters Without Borders, which fights for press freedom around the world, and Hauwa Ibrahim, a Nigerian human-rights advocate. Cuban dissident Oswaldo Payá, who won the Sakharov Prize in 2002, summed up the accomplishment of the women: "They have publicly denied the fear of repression that is felt by so many."
The group's impact may be a surprise even to its founders, who two weeks after the 2003 arrests began gathering on Sundays at St. Rita's in Havana to pray for their jailed loved ones. Several weeks later they started a ritual procession after each Sunday Mass. Silent and solemn in their simple white garb, they marched 10 blocks from the church to a nearby park. Their show of resistance impressed a people who were conditioned to cower. Their ranks grew. They now number about 30 on a regular basis,
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
The Ladies in White certainly haven't received the publicity and attention they should have in this country's media.
And the Amer. Library Assoc. refused to support the librarians arrested in Cuba.
Code Pink women aren't worthy to breathe the same air as The Ladies in White.
No UN outrage, it's a communist dictator.
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