Update on March 18, 2013 attack on Ladies in White

Taken from Pedazos de la Isla

State organized mobs assault the Ladies in White

Stoning against the Ladies in White, neighbors come out in their defense

On the night of March 18th, the Cuban political police organized a mob of more than 200 people to attack a group of 50 Ladies in White in Palma Soriano who were holding their monthly meeting, dedicating it to the 10th anniversary of the Black Spring crackdown when 75 dissidents were arrested and sentenced to prison.  These actions resulted in the hospitalization of one of the Ladies in White and the violent arrests of various neighbors who came out in their defense.

Belkis Cantillo, the representative of the Ladies in White in the province of Santiago de Cuba, was present and explained to this blog that the meeting took place without any incidents, but “at around 4 PM, when we were going to leave the house, we noticed that there were mobs on each corner.  It was then that act of repudiation began“.

Cantillo estimated that there were about 200 people in the acts of repudiation, many of them drunkards, and all of them responding to the orders of the political police.  Some of the agents who were at the forefront of the mobs were Edgar, Norberto, Yunier, Ernesto, Rodolfo and Agustin (the latter a chief of the Confrontation Unit in Santiago de Cuba), although the activist points out that these are just code names, seeing as the agents never use their actual names.

In addition, there were underage students in the mob.  They were taken there by their teachers.
“The teachers would tell the kids to scream insults at us like ‘worms‘”, said Cantillo, “but the majority of the parents showed up, angry, and punished their children and took them away from there.  They also confronted and protested against the teachers for taking them there without their authorization“.

The mobs remained outside of the home of Denia Hernandez and started to throw rocks against the walls, windows and roof.  There were also underage children inside- 3,8,12, and 15 years old.  The eldest being Martha Beatriz Ferrer, daughter of Belkis and leading dissident Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia.

“These kids were terrorized.  All they could hear were the rocks crashing against the walls.  It felt like it was raining rocks, it wouldn’t come to an end“, recounts Belkis, “And the political police was just there, controlling those mobs, encouraging them“.

At one point, one of the rocks landed inside the house of a neighbor.  Clearly bothered, he came out to defend the women.  He wasn’t the only one.

“This man came out to defend us.  He told the police officers to stop the violence“, said the Lady in White, “and many other people came out to defend us- both men and women.  In fact, there were 6 women (neighbors) who stood up for us.  They started to shout at the mobs, asking why they were throwing rocks at us because we were only defending our rights”.

The result of the displays of solidarity was the beating and arrest of the 6 women at the hands of the political police.  Each of them were taken away to an undisclosed location.  Two of them were identified on Jose Daniel Ferrer’s Twitter account (@jdanielferrer) as Jessica Hernández and Maricela Chea.

Meanwhile, the Lady in White Miraida Martin was physically assaulted by the mobs when she stepped out of the house.  The aggression was so intense that she had to be urgently rushed to the clinic of Palma Soriano, where they had to give her oxygen, according to another tweet by Ferrer Garcia, which also detailed that she was in “a very delicate state of health“.

The home of Denia Hernandez remained under police vigilance long after the mobs began to disperse at around 9 PM.  It remained that way all night long.

Belkis Cantillo said that despite the fact that they were very violent moments, the Ladies in White were not afraid, although they are “very worried about the women who defended us and were assaulted.  They are still detained and were very beaten up, being held in an undisclosed location“.

Her husband and UNPACU leader, Jose Daniel Ferrer, added on Twitter that the 6 women demonstrated a high level of bravery and expressed that “when everyone who desires a better future does the same as Jessica, Maricela, and the rest of the neighbors, the abuses, the hunger, and the misery will come to an end”.


For more information from Cuba, contact: Belkis Cantillo- Cell Phone: +58-323-612

Cuban resistance icon Pitaluga is gone but his spirit lives on in Cuba

"I think of a hero as someone who understands the degree of responsibility that comes with his freedom." - Bob Dylan

Julio Ruiz Pitaluga

Julio Ruiz Pitaluga lived on 11th street between D and E avenues in the neighborhood of Lawton in Havana, Cuba. He had spent 23 years in prison in Cuba as a political prisoner and refused to leave the island when released. Until his dying day he kept resisting and denouncing the dictatorship of the Castro brothers. He has passed on but his spirit lives on in the Cuban resistance today.

Back row: on the right, Julio Ruiz Pitaluga, center, Ernesto Diaz Rodriguez, left, Mario Chanes de Armas. Front row: on the left Eusebio Peñalver Mazorra and on the right Angel de Fana.


Angel de Fana, of Plantados hasta Libertad y la Democracia en Cuba, outlined the life of struggle that Julio Ruiz carried out. This is an approximation of the text:

Julio Ruiz Pitaluga or "Pita" to his friends had risen to the rank of captain in the July 26 Movement in the struggle against the dictator Fulgencio Batista. Like other rebels against Batista rule, after years of struggle he had to go into exile, but returned in 1959 with the end of the dictatorship. Only to find that his July 26 compatriot Fidel Castro was now forging a new and more brutal dictatorship. Pita joined together with Bernardo Corrales and other comrades in the struggle against the Batista dictatorship to now oppose the emerging Castro dictatorship.

He was imprisoned and sentenced to 30 years in prison for his opposition to the Castro regime. Despite having family in Miami, Pita decided to remain in Cuba struggling for its freedom. There he lived alone, in the same house where another long term prisoner of conscience Mario Chanes de Armas went to when he was released from prison and where many opposition activists went in search of material assistance. He was the representative of Plantados hasta Libertad (Steadfast until Free) inside of Cuba.

His spirit lives on in the courageous activists in Palma Soriano who today faced off in the streets of Cuba against the dictatorship's thugs without arms but with moral courage and civic defiance. Naming the dictatorship and its accomplices and demanding their end.

First remembered seeing Julio Ruiz Pitaluga interviewed in 2000 in the Czech documentary, Voices from the Island of Freedom, where he brought out a portrait photograph with other long term political prisoners now in exile. Both Mario Chanes de Armas and Eusebio Peñalver Mazorra passed away in exile after long years of struggle and prison.


On the far right, Julio Ruiz Pitaluga, center right, Ernesto Diaz Rodriguez, center left, Mario Chanes de Armas, front and center Eusebio Peñalver Mazorra.

During the interview Pitaluga wished the speedy end of the dictatorship and lamented the police men many Cubans had inside of them that prevented that regime from imploding. Never forget, the emphasis with which he said - I'm saying this here in Cuba and not outside.

In 2002 during President Jimmy Carter's visit to Cuba, Pitaluga was cited and quoted in the New York Times:

Julio Ruiz Pitaluga, who was freed from prison in 1988 after serving 23 years for demanding some of the same rights sought by Project Varela, said he hoped Mr. Carter's trip could help resolve differences among dissidents. ''Here it is not about left, center or right,'' he said. ''It is are you with Castro or not?''

Thanks to his courageous example and brilliant insight, today many more Cubans are saying the same thing inside of Cuba and the regime is growing afraid.