'It would be a falsehood to say I want to continue living'

A special Mother's Day tribute...

I spent some time in Cuba last summer, including an afternoon with the Ladies in White, an informal group  whose husbands have been tossed in jail for bogus reasons (such as for, you know, trying to express themselves). They went on a moving, silent protest march outside the  church, whose patron saint, Santa Rita, is  the Saint of Lost Causes. Then we sat down and  they got good and pissed off that their husbands are unjustly rotting in jail.  One woman followed me around the room, repeating "Castro es el Diablo! Entiende?"

Entiendo.

Here are some of their Mother's Day thoughts:

Mother's Day for the Ladies in White

By Roberto Santana Rodríguez

HAVANA- May 6 (www.cubanet.org) - Mother's Day for the Ladies in White - the wives of imprisoned dissidents - is a different kind of day, sad but filled with hope and dreams and confidence in the future.

The Ladies in White have undertaken a campaign that has transcended our borders in its goal of obtaining freedom for their loved ones.

Says Dolia Leal Francisco, wife of Nelson Aguiar Ramírez, president of the Orthodox Party of Cuba who is serving a 13-year sentence, says: "We, the Ladies in White, are a kind of association or movement of women and relatives of political prisoners arrested, tried and sentenced during the repressive wave that the Cuban government carried out in March of 2003. We got together at that time to fight for the freedom of those men who have been unjustly jailed."

Q: Why do you dress in white and what have you done?

A: We don't have any political agenda, just a humanitarian spirit that guides us to rectify a bad act of the Cuban government, which was to jail our husbands who had not committed any crime. We dress in white as a sign of purity and peace. We are the eyes, ears and voices of our imprisoned relatives. We've undertaken many activities. We've walked the streets of Havana, especially Sundays after Mass in the Santa Rita church. We haven't missed a Sunday in two years. We've also sent letters to international personalities stating our case for the freedom of our husbands. We've also asked Cuban government dependencies for amnesty for them.

Clara Lourdes Prieto Llorente is the sister pf independent journalists Fabio Prieto Llorente, serving a 20-year sentence. She says: "Everything changed radically in 2003. We no longer have Mother's Day because we're all uncertain whether my brother will be freed or not. My 70-year-old mother, Ramona Llorente, hasn't seen Fabio in a year. She's suffering from leukemia and is unable to go to Camagüey for a visit. Mother's Day has become a day of sadness for us."

Gloria Amaya González is the mother of two prisoners of conscience: Guido and Ariel belong to the Alternative Option Movement and are serving sentences of 20 years. She says: "As the mother of two prisoners, how can I feel with them absent? It would be a falsehood to say that I want to continue living. It's difficult to say what I feel when they've torn from my soul what I most want in my life, my two sons."

Berta Bueno Fuentes is the wife of Alejandro González Raga of the Varela Project who is serving a 14-year sentence. She says: "Mother's Day was very special before 2003. My husband is a joker and used to play all kinds of tricks with my son. They used to write pretty poems and gave me nice gifts. Sadness overcomes us on this day, but we're sure everything will return to normal when Alejandro comes back."

Elsa América González Padrón is the wife of Víctor Rolando Arroyo Carmona, independent journalist sentenced to 26 years. She says: "Mother's Day Hill be a happy one for me because I have my two sons with me, Rainer and Miguel Angel, and my husband, although imprisoned, is alive, strong and courageous. But it will also be sad because it will be another Mother's Day when we're separated."

Laura Pollán Toledo is the wife of Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez, independent journalist and president of the Liberal Party of Cuba. She says: "I was not thinking of going to the Santa Rita church last year until a state security agent came by the house two days before and told me not to go, that we were being manipulated, that is wasn't convenient, that I was in the wrong group. I told him to get out of the house and never return. Since then, I've not stopped going."