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RIGHTS-CUBA: Ladies in White Share Sakharov Prize
By Patricia Grogg
HAVANA, Oct 26, 2005 (IPS) - The "ladies in white", wives and mothers of
imprisoned dissidents in Cuba, received this year's Sakharov Prize for
freedom of thought Wednesday in recognition of their efforts to obtain the
release of their loved ones.
The prize, which has been awarded annually by the European Parliament since
1988, also went this year to Nigerian lawyer Hauwa Ibrahim and the
France-based Reporters Without Borders, because the Parliament found itself
unable to decide between the three.
Ibrahim defends women sentenced to be stoned to death for adultery in
Nigeria and people who have been sentenced to have a limb amputated for
theft, under Islamic Sharia law.
Amina Lawal and Safiya Hussaini are two of the women she has saved from
being stoned to death after international campaigns in their favour.
Reporters Without Borders defends freedom of the press and fights the
persecution of journalists around the world.
"This prize is a big boost to help us continue our struggle, and a
commitment to democracy," Gisela Delgado, the wife of Héctor Palacios, one
of the 75 dissidents handed stiff sentences in April 2003, told IPS.
Dressed in white and wearing t-shirts and buttons printed with photos of
their loved ones, the "ladies in white" gathered early Wednesday in the home
of Laura Pollán, one of the members who is best known among diplomats and
the international media.
"This afternoon we will attend mass in the Santa Rita church to give thanks
to the Virgin Mary, who has been a support for us in these difficult years,"
said Delgado.
"This bouquet of white gladiolus is for her (the Virgin Mary)," said another
activist, pointing to flowers in a vase.
There are symbols of the group in Pollán's crowded living room, including
white doves painted on the wall and a banner with the colours of the Cuban
flag, that carries the names of each of the 75 imprisoned opposition
activists.
Pollán and several other women were called early Wednesday to the European
Union delegation office in Havana, where they met with EU business attaché
Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff and other European officials.
After the meeting, Pollán said they would try to travel to Europe to receive
the prize in December. "We are going to fight to the last moment to go and
receive the prize," which she considered a recognition and backing for the
group by the international community.
The prize, named after late Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov (1921-1989), a
physicist, is awarded annually to groups dedicated to defending human
rights, protecting minorities, and promoting international cooperation,
democracy and the rule of law.
The award, which carries a cash prize of 50,000 euros (around 60,000
dollars), will be bestowed by the European Parliament in a ceremony held in
the northeastern French city of Strasbourg on or around Dec. 10, the
anniversary of the 1948 signing of the United Nations Universal Declaration
of Human Rights.
This year, the 50,000 euros will be shared by the three winners.
The decision to grant the award to the ladies in white was praised by
dissident leaders like Oswaldo Payá, the head of the Christian Liberation
Movement, who received the Sakharov Prize himself in 2002.
The women, who march silently every Sunday down an avenue in Havana, "have
publicly defied the fear of repression that is felt by so many," he said in
a statement distributed by fax.
Payá, who launched the Varela Project, a referendum initiative seeking
political changes in Cuba's four-decade-old socialist system, received
authorisation from the government of Fidel Castro to travel to France to
personally receive the prize in late 2002.
Héctor Espinoza Chepe, one of 14 of the original 75 imprisoned dissidents
who have been released on parole for health reasons since last year, said
Cuban authorities should "take the prize into consideration and draw their
own political conclusions."
In his opinion, the prize should lead to "steps towards openness" by the
government, and to the release of the rest of the dissidents, who he
described as "peaceful people, who do not advocate violence but are calling
for negotiated reconciliation."
But diplomats in Havana predicted that the prize would only exacerbate the
irritation of local authorities over European support for dissidents, whose
small organisations are illegal and who the government considers
"mercenaries" on the payroll of the United States.
In summary trials held in April 2003, the 75 dissidents were handed
sentences of up to 28 years, on charges of conspiring with Washington to
destabilise the Cuban state.
In response, the EU adopted a series of measures that upset the Cuban
government, especially the decision to invite members of opposition groups
to the receptions held in European embassies in Havana on the countries'
national days.
Although the measures were lifted in January, the chilly relations between
Cuba and the EU have not completely thawed. Some European ambassadors
decided to hold two different receptions, in order to separately invite
dissidents and government officials.
(END)
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