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Ladies in White founder dies in Havana

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Summary of story from France 24, October 15, 2011

Laura Pollan, founder of Cuba’s Ladies in White dissident group, has died aged 63.

Ladies in White was founded after the arrest and imprisonment of 75 Cuban dissidents – including Ms Pollan’s husband, Hector Maseda – in 2003.

The group, made up of wives and mothers of political prisoners, was based at Ms Pollan’s home and became politically influential in its own right (see WVoN story).

Members of the group march through Havana every Sunday wearing white, a colour intended to symbolise peace.

Ms Pollan worked as a high school Spanish and literature professor.

Elizardo Sanchez, head of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, said her death was an ‘irreparable loss’ to the country.

Martha Beatriz Roque, one of the dissidents jailed in 2003, said Pollan had ‘given her life for freedom in Cuba.’

Laura Pollan died in Havana on Friday. Her husband was with her at the hospital.

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