MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

EU Sakharov Prize for Cuban “Ladies in White”

The so-called Cuban “Ladies in White” virtually admitted Tuesday that they will not be travelling to Strasbourg to receive the Sakharov prize from the European Parliament, despite international efforts to convince the Cuban government to allow them to make the trip

The push led by the head of the EU Parliament, Josep Borrel, has been unsuccessful so far said Miriam Leiva, one of the members of the dissident delegation who had hoped to travel to the French city that hosts the EU legislative branch.

The EU Parliament awarded the annual Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Conscience to the Ladies in White for their efforts on behalf of Cuba's political prisoners. Also sharing the honour this year are Reporters without Frontiers and Nigerian attorney Hauwa Ibrahim. The award ceremony is scheduled for next Wednesday.

Ladies in White requested authorization from the Cuban government so that five members of the group could attend the ceremony, but Havana so far has not said a word. EU's parliament presented the 2002 award to Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya, who was allowed to travel to Europe to receive the prize personally.

"I don't think we're going. If they haven't let us leave by now, I don't think at this point that they're going to change their minds" said Leiva, adding that the Cuban authorities "are acting most arbitrary".

Laura Pollan another of the five who intended to attend the ceremony, said that if the group could not go, they would gather before dawn Wednesday to be together at the moment when the prize is awarded in Strasbourg.

Pollan revealed that Ladies in White received the support from "several groups" of Latin American women who will conduct vigils in solidarity with the Cuban women.

Some European parliamentarians are weighing the option of sending a delegation to present the prize to the ladies in Havana, an initiative coinciding with the intention announced by the Ladies in White last weekend.

The human rights organization announced last Saturday that they would not authorize anyone else to accept the Sakharov Prize on their behalf should the Cuban government deny them permission to leave the island.

The group said if they were not able to go to Strasbourg, they would invite EU delegates to Havana for a local prize ceremony.

The Ladies in White considered an illegal group by the Fidel Castro regime, is made up of the wives, daughters and mothers of dissidents held prisoner in Cuban jails.

They are identified as the Ladies in White because they wear white clothing when they stage public protests urging freedom for all political prisoners in the island.

The idea comes from the Mothers and Grandmothers of Plaza Mayo, Argentina, who for years marched with heads covered in white demanding from military authorities to know about their loved ones.