Дамы в белом: кубинское оппозиционное движение.

Ladies in White (lang es) is an opposition movement in Cuba founded in 2003 by wives and other female relatives of jailed dissidents and those who have been made to disappear by the government. The women protest the imprisonments by attending Mass each Sunday wearing white dresses and then silently walking through the streets dressed in white clothing. The color white is chosen to symbolize peace. The movement received the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought from the European Parliament in 2005.

During the Black Spring in 2003, the Cuban government arrested and summarily tried and sentenced 75 human rights activists, independent journalists, and independent librarians to terms of up to 28 years in prison, for receiving American government funds and collaborating with U. S diplomats. For its part, the Cuban government accused the 75 individuals of "acts against the independence or the territorial integrity of the state", including belonging to "illegal organizations", accepting money from the United States Interests Section in Havana and of "hijacking", "terrorist activities", and collaborating with foreign media. In the view of the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Black Spring violated the most basic norms of international law, including Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees everyone the right to "seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of their choice." Under the leadership of Laura Pollán, the Ladies in White group was formed two weeks after the arrests. Relatives of the prisoners began gathering on Sundays at St. Rita's Church in Havana to pray for their relatives. After each Mass, they began a ritual procession from the church to a nearby park. The white clothing they wear is reminiscent of the Argentine Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, who used a similar strategy to demand information about their missing children from the 1970s military junta. Each marcher wears a button with a photo of her imprisoned relative and the number of years to which he has been sentenced. The Cuban government has criticized the Ladies in White for being a subversive association of American backed terrorists. However, following the 2010 intervention of Cardinal Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino on their behalf, they were generally allowed to protest outside of his church. The Cuban government barred the group's leaders from attending the Sakharov Prize award ceremony in Strasbourg, Alsace, Grand Est, France, drawing an appeal on the group's behalf from the European Parliament. Berta Soler received the award on the organization's behalf on her first ever trip abroad in 2013. She was allowed to leave due to Cuba easing its travel regulations.

The Cuban government alleges that the Ladies in White were created and financially sustained by the U. S. government as a means of destabilizing Cuba. Although it is unclear if the United States had a role in creating the organization, leaked classified diplomatic cables show that the U. S. Interests Section requested funding for the Ladies in White and that working with the group figures prominently in the section’s activities. When onlooker and fellow protester Isabel Haydee Alvarez Mosqueda objected to their arrest, she was detained as well. Malleza and Alvarez were both transferred to Havana's Manto Negro women’s jail. Amnesty International named the three prisoners of conscience and called for their immediate and unconditional release. The Irish based organization Front Line called for their release on 15 December 2011. On 13 January 2012, US Representatives Ileana Ros Lehtinen, Mario Díaz Balart, Albio Sires, and David Rivera issued a bipartisan statement urging the prisoners' release, calling their detention "appalling and unjust". US Senators Marco Rubio and Robert Menendez also issued a statement calling for their release and condemning the "unrelenting tyranny" of "the Castro brothers". Malleza, Martínez, and Alvarez were released on 20 January after 52 days in prison; the release came only a few hours after Amnesty International's announcement of their "prisoner of conscience" designation. The organization reported that authorities told the three that they would face "harsh sentences" if they continued their anti government activities. The Ladies in White also participated in a vigil for imprisoned dissident Wilmar Villar Mendoza, who later died while on hunger strike. However, they were instructed by Cuba's secret police that they would no longer be allowed to protest. A reporter for BBC News stated that protest groups like the Ladies in White were seeking to raise their profile in advance of an impending visit by Pope Benedict XVI—who was expected to discuss the issue of human rights with the Cuban government—and that the Cuban Communist Party was accordingly seeking to clamp down on protest. The pair were released on bail on 5 April. On 9 December, police in Cuba arrested approximately 80 Ladies in White, allegedly using violence in detaining some of them. In all, 100 to 150 dissidents were placed under house arrest.

In February 2015, 53 members of Ladies in White were arrested after a march through Havana after a mass.

Hours before the historic visit of President Barack Obama to Cuba on 19 March, Cuban authorities arrested more than 50 members of Ladies in White during their weekly march. Some members believed Cuban authorities would allow them to protest without getting arrested due to the presence of international reporters and a foreign head of state. Soler offered the following thoughts prior to being arrested: "For us, it's very important that we do this so President Obama knows that there are women here fighting for the liberty of political prisoners. And he needs to know that we are here being repressed simply for exercising our right to express ourselves and manifest in a non violent way."