October 14, 2026, marked the fifteenth anniversary of the death of Laura Pollán, founder and first leader of the Ladies in White. Berta Soler, the movement’s current leader, commemorated her legacy in an interview published that day by Martí Noticias.
Soler denounced the shortages faced by the population and referred to the existence of more than a thousand political prisoners in Cuba, including people imprisoned for peacefully demonstrating to demand freedom and improvements for the country.
Pollán, a teacher, founded the movement along with other women in 2003, following the imprisonment of 75 opposition members and independent journalists during the Black Spring. Among them was her husband, journalist Héctor Maseda, sentenced to 20 years in prison. The Ladies in White marched peacefully to demand the release of their relatives.
As Soler recalled, Pollán’s home on Neptuno Street in Central Havana served as a refuge for relatives of incarcerated individuals. There, they shared medications and coordinated efforts with institutions and diplomatic missions to demand releases.
Maseda was released in February 2011. Pollán died on October 14 of that year at the Calixto García Hospital in Havana. The group continued to demand the release of other people imprisoned in Cuba for political reasons.
“We are not going to erase this legacy,” Soler stated in the interview, and assured that they will continue working for the freedom of political prisoners and the Cuban people.