Over 20 "Ladies in White" Arrested

From The Miami Herald:

Dissidents: 20 women detained on way to Pollán’s home

The women were detained to keep them from meeting about the Ladies in White’s future following the death of the group’s leader.

Cuban police detained 20 members and supporters of the Ladies in White to keep them from participating in a key meeting Tuesday to discuss the group’s reorganization after the death of its leader, members said.

Spokeswoman Berta Soler said police also surrounded the neighborhood and blocked all vehicular traffic on the avenue in front of the Havana house where the women met, the home of their late leader Laura Pollán.

Her death from a heart attack Friday at the age of 63 left the Ladies in White and their supporters wondering about their future, while police apparently saw an opportunity to try to put an end to one of the women’s most singular activities.

Pollán always hosted the women’s monthly “literary tea” on Tuesdays, gatherings where members and supporters talked about their jailed male relatives and sometimes read their letters from prison out loud.

About 20 members or supporters of the Ladies in White were detained Monday and Tuesday as they left their homes or approached Pollán’s to take part in Tuesday’s “Literary Tea,” Soler said.

“The state security agents told them, ‘There’s no Tea. That’s over,’” Soler told El Nuevo Herald by telephone from Pollán’s home.

Some of the women were identified as Mayra Morejón, Rosario Morales la Rosa, Mercedes Fresneda Castillo, Leonor Reino Borges, Yanelys Pérez and Ana Iris Cabrera.