UM institute to honor Cuba's Damas de Blanco leader Berta Soler

Posted on Monday, 03.25.13

UM institute to honor Cuba's Damas de Blanco leader Berta Soler
By LUISA YANEZ
lyanez@MiamiHerald.com

Cuban dissident Berta Soler, president of the famed Damas de Blanco
group, will visit South Florida in May to be honored by a University of
Miami institute.

Soler will be bestowed with the Cuba Freedom Fighter Award from UM's
Cuban and Cuban-American Studies/Casa Bacardi on May 17th during the
group's inaugural gala at the Coral Gables Country Club.

Soler was given an exit visa in accordance with an immigration reform
law that permits Cuban dissidents to travel abroad for the first time.
Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez is currently on a tour of the U.S. on a
similar permit.

The Damas de Blanco are a group of mothers, wives and other relatives of
Cuban political prisoners who every Sunday dressed in white to go to
Sunday mass and then walk down Fifth Avenue in Havana in silent protest
for the unjust incarceration of their relatives and the lack of basic
human rights in Cuba.

"Berta Soler deserves this recognition and much more," said Jaime
Suchlicki, ICCAS director. "The Damas de Blanco is made up of brave
mothers, wives and daughters who defy the Castro government every day
risking their lives in the process."

Soler, who has headed the dissident group Damas de Blanco for a year in
a half since the death of its co-founder Laura Pollán, left the island
in early March to travel to Spain. She is expected to visit Latin
America before arriving in Miami.

During the gala, two other Cuban-Americans will also be honored. Noted
writer and columnist Carlos Alberto Montaner will receive the
Cuban-American Scholar Award and Felipe Valls, owner and founder of
Versailles and La Carreta restaurants, will receive the Mambí Award.

The gala is at 7 p.m., with cocktails, followed by dinner at 8 p.m. The
cost for the event is $100 per person and $1000 per table.

For reservations, call 305- 284-2822.

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