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Cuba Cracks Down Ahead of Papal Visit

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Lindsay Lloyd

Just days before Pope Benedict XVI arrives in Cuba, the Castro regime has shut down one of the few tolerated protests in the country.  The...

Just days before Pope Benedict XVI arrives in Cuba, the Castro regime has shut down one of the few tolerated protests in the country.  The Ladies in White (Damas de Blanco) is comprised of female relatives of political prisoners.  The group formed after the Black Spring crackdown in 2003, when the Cuban authorities arrested and imprisoned 75 leading dissidents and human rights activists.  The Ladies in White have organized peaceful protests ever since, attending Mass at a Catholic church in Havana and then silently marching in a vigil after services.  This week, as this Miami Herald article details, the Cuban government has banned the Ladies in White from demonstrating.  Cuba's human rights groups and dissidents are calling on the Pope to speak out and pressure the Castro government on the horrific state of human rights in Cuba. http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/19/2702661/cubas-ladies-in-white-warned-public.html This post was written by Lindsay Lloyd, Program Director of the Freedom Collection at the George W. Bush Institute.