Berta Soler (Photo: Diario de Cuba)
Dictator Raul Castro has lifted travel restrictions for most -- but not all -- Cubans and instituted other so-called reforms. But human rights activist Berta Soler, a beneficiary of the most high-profile change, is not fooled.
Repression in Cuba "rages" and those opposed to the communist dictatorship are frequently victims of "state terrorism," said Soler, head of the Cuban Damas De Blanco, or "Ladies In White," on Monday after she arrived in Spain for a visit.
The Damas De Blanco is made up of family members and other women who peacefully and bravely advocate on behalf political prisoners and for the end of political repression on the island. Soler took over as lead spokeswoman after the suspicious dead in 2011 of founding leader Laura Pollan.
"We are for freedom for political prisoners, and also for human rights," Soler said, according to a story posted at Diario De Cuba.
That Soler is in Spain highlights the fact that Raul Castro's "reforms" do not signal a signifcant change in his regime's approach to the opposition or to all Cubans in general. Soler's husband, Angel Moya, one of the Group of 75 prisoners of conscience jailed in 2003 and released in 2010-2011, was denied permission to travel overseas because he remains under a sort of parole.
Soler's unapologetic stance towards the Castro dictatorship extends to her reaction to the death of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, the Cuban governments primary financial backer.
Soler said she did not revel in Chavez's death, but also did not regret it because Chavez "applauded the repression" of Cuban dissidents.
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