Havana, April 28th, 2010. The Ladies in White, a group of women that encompasses mothers, wives, aunts, and other relatives of political prisoners in Cuba, will not ask the government for a permit to conduct their peaceful marches until they are served with a legal document containing all restrictions imposed on them —said in Havana a leader of the group, Laura Pollán, in a statement to the Union of Free Journalists of Cuba.

“We will never ask for a permit until they ask us to do it legally through a document from the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry Interior or the General Prosecutor’s office” —stated Pollán.

“The women of Cuba should know that all of them who would wish to support the Ladies in White have the door open to do so. That it is the government who represses because they want to destroy us” added the wife of imprisoned journalist Héctor Maceda Gutiérrez.

As part of the government imposed restrictions, the Ladies in White and their Support Group have been prevented from attending Sunday mass at Saint Rita of Cassia Catholic Church; and from peacefully marching on the centric Quinta Avenida (5th Avenue) in the Miramar neighborhood of the Playa municipality. For several consecutive weeks they have been the victims of “acts of repudiation” perpetrated by paramilitary mobs directed by Security of State.

Carlos Serpa Maceira, Union of Free Journalists of Cuba.