Havana/The Lech Walesa 2025 Solidarity Award, awarded to the leader of the Ladies in Blanco, Berta Solerthis Tuesday in Miami, “it is another way of knowing that we are not alone.” In conversation with 14ymediothe activist says “that we have in Europe, in America or anywhere people who are looking at what we are doing inside Cuba and we are suffering.”
Soler points out that he feels “honest and grateful” by the award after “22 years of struggle in Cuba for the freedom of all political prisoners and also the struggle for everyone’s rights and freedoms” in the country.
He adds that the prize – which recognizes people and organizations that promote democracy and civil freedoms worldwide – is also a way of honoring “the 66 years we have been fighting against communism and the Cuban regime.”
The prize is also a way to honor “the 66 years we have been fighting against Cuban communism and regime”
The activist could not go to the ceremony to collect the prize, because it is regulated and cannot leave the country. However, through a video, His voice It was heard in the act, which was chaired by Poland’s Foreign Minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, and the United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio.
“I could not be there because the Cuban tyranny conditions my exit, imposes the exit without return, a condition that I really do not accept and stay in Cuba,” he says to this newspaper.
He adds that with the resources granted by the prize ($ 275,000) “the aid for political prisoners will be reinforced; another part will be shared with the Ladies of Dlanco and, of course, with my family.”
This is the second recognition of international relevance received by the ladies of Blanco or its leader, after the Sájarov Award for Freedom of Thought, awarded in 2005, by the European Parliament.
Soler has become a sample button to dissent on the island. Since 2022, almost every Sunday, when he tries to attend Mass in the church of Santa Rita, in Havana, the 62 -year -old activist has been arrested, in some cases only a few hours, although in recent months they have even been three days.
Since 2022, almost every Sunday, when he tries to attend Mass in the church of Santa Rita, in Havana, the 62 -year -old activist has been arrested
The leader of the Blanco ladies is not the only one in the group that has lived that surveillance of state security. Last April, the head of the United States Embassy Mission in Cuba, Mike HammerAs a sample of support, he escorted Soler Mass, although seven members of the group were arrested for a few hours in his attempt to attend the chapel.
The Ladies of Blanco movement arose at the initiative of a group of family women of the 75 dissidents and independent journalists detained in March 2003. The activists arrested during those days were sentenced to high prison convictions during the so -called black spring. From then on, the wives, mothers and other relatives of those prisoners identified themselves for always dressed in white and, after attending Mass in a Catholic temple, they began to make Sunday marches to ask for their release.
