White: the purest of colors. Ladies dressed in white, marching through the streets of Havana, Cuba, in silence: the purest of protests. Yet a group of Cuban women known as “Las Damas de Blanco,” or “Ladies in White,” have been victims of cruel repression by supporters of the communist government on the island. But now they are not alone.

On March 25, tens of thousands of people marched on the streets of Miami's Little Havana to show their support for the Ladies in White and their cause. “Cubans and non-Cubans alike that live in liberty need to take the opportunity at this moment in history to come together and show them that we care,” said Cuban-American singer Gloria Estefan, who, along with her husband, music producer Emilio Estefan, organized the first of several marches.

Estefan was motivated by the brutal images on television of the women being harassed by pro-government protesters who insulted them as they marched peacefully down the street, as they have done for years, asking for the release of their loved ones. The images show them being pushed and shoved, yelled at, dragged and taken away in buses by security forces.

Las Damas de Blanco spontaneously organized in April 2003, shortly after a series of mock trials in which 75 dissidents, independent journalists and human-rights activists were sentenced to jail terms that range from six to 30 years. They had been rounded up in a series of raids weeks earlier, in what came to be known as The Black Spring of 2003, and were accused of conspiring against the “independence and integrity of Cuba” with the “Northern Empire,” as the Cuban government refers to the United States.

Many of those detained were coordinators of the Varela Project, an effort by dissidents to request democratic changes on the island by gathering 10,000 signatures, as required by the Cuban Constitution. They were charged with subversive activities, as were many others who wrote, edited and published an independent magazine.

Since then, the Ladies in White have been holding vigils, taking walks along the streets of several Cuban cities, holding a flower or a picture of their husbands, brothers or sons whom they consider unfairly detained. They remain silent throughout, hoping their peaceful and passive form of protest will help gain their loved ones freedom.

In the past weeks, their efforts have been supported by two brave men who risked their lives in the name of the prisoners of conscience who have fallen ill under detention. After 82 days on a hunger strike, Orlando Zapata, a 42-year-old plumber, passed away Feb. 23 while in prison. Journalist and human-rights activist Guillermo Fariñas followed suit, and after three weeks on a hunger strike said he was willing to die if his death could call attention to the plight of his jailed compatriots.

Their sacrifices have not been in vain. The world has taken notice. There has been international condemnation and outcries from the European Union and the U.S. State Department asking the Cuban government to release all political prisoners.

The day before the march in Miami in support of the Ladies in White, President Barack Obama put out a statement of support for the human-rights struggle in Cuba. “Recent events in Cuba, including the tragic death of Orlando Zapata Tamayo, the repression visited upon Las Damas de Blanco, and the intensified harassment of those who dare to give voice to the desires of their fellow Cubans, are deeply disturbing,” said the president. “These events underscore that instead of embracing an opportunity to enter a new era, Cuban authorities continue to respond to the aspirations of the Cuban people with a clenched fist.”

Cuban exiles and dissidents on the island have gone to great lengths to try to bring about democratic changes. Every year they ask the same question: When will freedom come to the Cuban people? The U.S. government has maintained an economic embargo on the island for decades, yet the Castro dictatorship has outlived nine U.S. presidents and remains intact even after Fidel Castro's illness forced him to hand over power to his younger brother Raul.

Wouldn't it be ironic if a group of women dressed in white, with their silence, their dignity and their courage, would be able to accomplish what the most powerful politicians have failed to do? The question should now be: Is this the turning point for Cuba?

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(Maria Elena Salinas is the author of “I AM MY FATHER'S DAUGHTER: LIVING A LIFE WITHOUT SECRETS.” Reach her at www .mariaesalinas.com)

© 2010 by Maria Elena Salinas

Distributed by King Features Syndicate