Havana/The opponent Berta Soler, leader of the Blanco ladies, received the Solidarity Lech Wałęsa Award, in an act held in Miami. The activist, who offered a message virtually to be regulated And not to be able to leave the country, was recognized for the struggle for democracy and human rights in Cuba.
During the ceremony – president by Poland’s Foreign Minister, Radosław Sikorski, and where the United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, was also present, Soler said that “the prize is the result of 22 years of struggle for the freedom of Cuban political prisoners who are unfairly imprisoned by Cuban communist tyranny.”
“The ladies of Blanco and I thank the Ministry of Relations of Poland this recognition. We have been fighting 66 years against communist tyranny. Many died killed in the execution walls. Many suffer long years in prison for political reasons,” he added.
Many suffer long years in prison for political reasons ”
The opposition leader, who denounced last April, along with her husband, Ángel Moya, that the State Security He had retained his mobile and, possibly, accessed his private archives, remarked in his speech that there are more than 1,000 political prisoners in Cuban prisons, who “mostly went out to protest peacefully on July 11, 2021 against oppression.”
He abounded in the cases of Sayli Navarro and Sissi Abascalthat “that day they left next to the Cuban people” and “today are part of the Cuban prisoners.”
In his message of just over six minutes, Berta Soler warned that Blanco ladies will continue to fight “for the freedom of all political prisoners.”
He also said that part of the award, which consists of a statuette and $ 275,000, “will be destined to strengthen aid funds for political prisoners and white ladies.”
This is the second recognition of this magnitude that the ladies of Blanco or their leader receive
This is the second Recognition of this magnitude received by the ladies of Blanco or its leader, after the Sájarov Award for Freedom of Thought, awarded in 2005, by the European Parliament.
Since 2022, the 62 -year -old activist has been arrested almost every Sunday, when she tries to attend Mass in the Church of Santa Rita, in Havana. Before the strong police operations that prevent him from leaving his home, as a sign of solidarity, the head of the mission of the United States Embassy in Cuba, Mike Hammereven escorted it last April, although seven members of the group were arrested for a few hours in their attempt to attend the religious act.
The Blanco Ladies movement arose at the initiative of a group of family women of the 75 dissidents and independent journalists arrested in March 2003 and 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.
