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Cuba’s Ladies in White willing to meet with Carter

28 March 2011 22:36 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Cuba’s Ladies in White said they will continue their activities in defense of human rights following the release of all "Group of 75" dissidents, and are willing to meet with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter during his visit to the island this week, APA reports quoting â€œFox News Latinoâ€.
Laura Pollan, one of the spokeswomen of the organization that seeks freedom for the nation’s political prisoners, said they will continue the struggle for the release of dissidents, for a change in the laws that allow Cubans to be jailed "for speaking freely, and to secure respect for human rights."
"The existence of the Ladies in White has not ended as many think, the Ladies in White will be around for awhile," Pollan said, referring to the release last week of all Group of 75 prisoners still in jail.
Pollan described Sunday as "special" because after eight years, not one of the 75 dissidents sentenced in the wave of repression of the "Black Spring" of 2003 remains behind bars.
"Though the Group of 75 dissidents are now free or out on parole, our marches and activities will continue as always," Pollan said upon returning from the march the group carries out every Sunday after attending Mass at a Havana church.
"We’re not politicians, we’re defenders of human rights," Pollan said, adding that they hope that by the end of this year not a single political prisoner will remain in the island’s jails.
The Ladies in White began their protest marches on behalf of the 75 dissidents jailed in 2003, then later decided to demand the release of other political prisoners as well, Pollan said.
The Cuban government freed on March 23 the two remaining members of the Group of 75, thus effectively ending the process of releasing prisoners begun last July with the mediation of the Cuban Catholic Church and the support of the Spanish government.
"If at some time he wishes to meet with the Ladies in White, we are perfectly willing," Pollan said regarding the possibility of a meeting with Jimmy Carter during his visit to Cuba that starts Monday.
"We are open to any invitation he might make us, though we don’t know what is on his agenda and we do know that he comes at the invitation of (Cuban President) Raul Castro," Pollan said.