During the Black Spring in March 2003, the Cuban authorities carried out a wave of arrests, detaining 75 human rights activists and government critics. Among the “Group of 75” were journalist Víctor Rolando Arroyo Carmona (1951) and construction worker Ángel Moya Acosta (1964).

Both men were fervent opponents of the Cuban region. Arroyo worked for the Union of Independent Cuban Journalists and Writers. He was also in charge of a library belonging to the Varela Project, a civic initiative that proposed a law advocating human rights reforms in Cuba.
 
Moya Acosta was the founder and leader of various movements calling for freedom and democracy in Cuba. He led numerous peaceful demonstrations and, like Arroyo, he was arrested on several occasions before the infamous Black Spring.
 

Ladies in White
After they were imprisoned, the wives of Arroyo and Moya Acosta decided to take action. Every Sunday after mass, Elsa González Padrón and Berta Soler Fernández march with the wives of the other prisoners through the streets of Havana against the fate of their husbands and against the regime that is holding them.
 

These women are called Las Damas de Blanco or the “Ladies in White”, white being the colour of peace. Even though they protest in silence, they can clearly be seen.

 

According to Berta, “we, the wives, were not very politically engaged. But we have learned to defend ourselves and our loved ones.” On March 17, 2010, during one of the protests, the communist authorities arrested 30 Ladies in White.

 

More on political prisoners:
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch