Cuban blogger and independent journalist, Dania Virgen García was released from prison, pending an upcoming judicial process. Marc Masferrer has more details on his blog.

The Ladies in Support to the Ladies in White were verbally warned against marching (according to Radio Martí, in this Spanish language piece) with the latter on Saturday, but then ultimately allowed to march on Sunday as reported by Yoani Sánchez via Twitter. The Ladies in White also stated that they hope some prisoners will be freed during or after the Vatican’s foreign minister’s visit to Cuba next month.

Orlando Zapata Tamayo’s mother, Lady in White Reina Luisa Tamayo, joined Twitter on Saturday, and already has gathered more than 440 followers.

The platform “Cuba Democracia Ya!” organized in Madrid (Spain) an act of solidarity with the Ladies in White and for the liberation of all Cuban political prisoners in the island.. It was scheduled to coincide with Mother’s Day celebrations in most countries of the Western Hemisphere, including Cuba.

Misceláneas de Cuba reported (in Spanish) that there is a growing sense of alarm among the doctors who care for opposition activist Guillermo Fariñas as his health continues to deteriorate. Guillermo is on his 75th day (today) of a hunger strike he initiated on February 24th, 2010.

Authorities in Cuba arrested, and sentenced opposition journalist Dania García to a year and eight months behind bars on charges of domestic “mistreatment” and “abuse of power”, informed today (yesterday) Cuban dissident Elizardo Sánchez.

García, 41, who writes for several opposition press agencies online, was summarily sentenced on April 23rd at the end of a very speedy trail [after being arrested on April 22nd], stated Sánchez.

The dissident, who has taken part in recent marches with the Ladied in White —the wives of political prisoners— is now an inmate at the women’s high security prison Manto Negro [Black Shawl] west of Havana., added [Sánchez] the president of the illegal Cuban Commission on Human Rights, that functions with [some level] of tolerance from the government.

Sánchez remarked that he’s looking into “whether this is a politically motivated retaliation” and said that García’s daughter, 23, is acquiescent of her mother’s imprisonment.

“Her family has turned their backs on her. I spoke to her daughter and she said that it is alright that her mom is in prison to see if she changes her way of thinking. She’s supported by the CDR (Committee for the Defense of the Revolution), the local chief of police, and other [government] institutions” he added.

García, who collaborates with opposition websites Primavera Digital and CubaNet, also maintains a blog on which she expresses her support for the Ladies in White, criticizes the human rights situation. Among her linked sites, there is one created by veterans of the Bay of Pigs anti-Castro invasion of 1961.

[The Cuban government in] Havana accuses opposition activists of being Washington’s mercenaries and of being used in a US and European orchestrated “campaign” to “discredit” the revolution after the February 23rd death of prisoner and opposition activist Orlando Zapata after an almost three month long hunger strike; and 65 (66) day long hunger strike by dissident journalist Guillermo Fariñas

(Source AFP-El Comercio, Quito, Ecuador translated by #OZT I accuse the Cuban government)