In conversation with ’14ymedio’, the leader of the Ladies in White says she will support political prisoners with a portion of the Lech Walesa Prize.
14ymedio, Havana, 3 September 2025 — The 2025 Lech Walesa Solidarity Award, presented to Berta Soler, the leader of the Ladies in White, this Tuesday in Miami, “is one more way of knowing that we are not alone.” Speaking with 14ymedio , the activist asserts, “We have people in Europe, in America, or anywhere else who are watching what we are doing inside Cuba, and we are suffering.”
Soler says she feels “honored and grateful” for the award after “22 years of fighting in Cuba for the freedom of all political prisoners and also for the rights and freedoms of all” in the country.
She adds that the award—which recognizes individuals and organizations that promote democracy and civil liberties around the world—is also a way to honor “the 66 years we have been fighting against communism and the Cuban regime.”
The award is also a way to honor “the 66 years we have been fighting against communism and the Cuban regime.”
The activist was unable to attend the ceremony to collect the award because she is “regulated” and cannot leave the country. However, her voice was heard via video at the event, which was presided over by Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“I couldn’t be there because the Cuban tyranny is conditioning my departure, imposing a departure with no return, a condition I truly don’t accept, and I’m staying in Cuba,” she told this newspaper.
She adds that the funds provided by the prize ($275,000) “will be used to strengthen aid for political prisoners; another portion will be shared with the Damas de Blanco and, of course, with my family.”
This is the second internationally significant recognition received by the Ladies in White or their leader, following the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, awarded in 2005 by the European Parliament.
Soler has become a poster child for the harassment of dissidents on the island. Since 2022, almost every Sunday when she tries to attend Mass at the Santa Rita Church in Havana, the 62-year-old activist has been detained, in some cases for only a few hours, although in recent months it has been as long as three days.
Since 2022, almost every Sunday when she tries to attend mass at the Santa Rita church in Havana, the 62-year-old activist has been detained.
The leader of the Ladies in White is not the only member of the group to have experienced such State Security surveillance. Last April, the head of the U.S. Embassy mission in Cuba, Mike Hammer, escorted Soler to Mass as a show of support, although seven members of the group were detained for several hours while attempting to attend the chapel.
The Ladies in White movement emerged from the initiative of a group of women relatives of the 75 dissidents and independent journalists arrested in March 2003. The activists arrested during those days were sentenced to lengthy prison terms during the so-called Black Spring. From then on, the wives, mothers, and other relatives of those prisoners identified themselves by always wearing white and, after attending mass at a Catholic church, began holding Sunday marches to demand their release.
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