The “Ladies in White” still walk on Sundays in Havana

Every Sunday, after attending mass at the Santa Rita Church, roughly 40 women, some dressed in pants and sneakers and others wearing skirts but always in solidarity white and carrying gladiolas, slowly walk up Havana’s Fifth Avenue amid shouts of “Libertad!” These are no ordinary women, for they are the “Damas de Blanco,” the “Ladies in White,” founded by the late Castro oppositionist, Laura Pollán (February 13, 1948 – October 14, 2011).