Cuban dissident leader survives challenge, says group stronger

Cuban dissident leader survives challenge, says group stronger
BY ROSA TANIA VALDÉS AND NELSON ACOSTA
HAVANA Wed Mar 11, 2015 5:35pm EDT

(Reuters) - The leader of Cuba's Ladies in White declared the prominent
dissident group stronger on Wednesday after she survived a leadership
challenge from disgruntled followers who accused her of abusing her
authority.

Berta Soler won a referendum on whether she should continue to head the
organization that won the European Parliament's 2005 Sakharov Prize for
freedom of thought.

Of 201 ballots cast, 180 were in favor of Soler versus 15 against, Soler
announced at the group's Havana headquarters. Six ballots were blank or
annulled, and 32 voters including Soler did not submit ballots, she said.

Supporters outside celebrated with shouts of "Long live Berta."

"This means we come out stronger and that we are legitimized. The Ladies
in White live in a country where there is no freedom and where a group
of women has submitted to a referendum and Berta Soler comes out
legitimatized as the leader," Soler said once the vote count showed her
with an insurmountable lead.

The group is relatively obscure at home, but has enjoyed prestige
abroad. The U.S. government periodically cites the Ladies for their
defense of human rights, and Soler has had audiences with both President
Barack Obama and Pope Francis.

The group, known for its Sunday marches after Roman Catholic mass, was
started by mothers, daughters and wives of 75 dissidents who were
sentenced to long prison terms in 2003 as part of a government crackdown
known as the Black Spring.

Since then, all 75 Black Spring dissidents have been released, most of
the original Ladies have left the group, and founder Laura Pollan died
in 2011, leaving Soler in charge.

Internal disputes prompted calls for her resignation, with disaffected
members accusing her of abuse of authority, arbitrarily expelling
members and misusing funds.

The public fight has added to difficulties for Cuba's tiny dissident
community, which faces challenges even when unified.

Police harass and detain dissidents, and the Communist government
accuses them of being mercenaries working for the U.S. government.

The Ladies in White, funded largely by anti-Castro exiles in the United
States, pays each activist $30 for participating in the Sunday marches,
Soler said, an amount greater than the typical monthly salary in Cuba.

Dissidents say they often have no choice but to accept foreign donations
because the government derails their careers and prevents them from
holding state jobs.

(Reporting by Rosa Tania Valdés and Nelson Acosta; Writing by Daniel
Trotta; Editing by David Gregorio)

Source: Cuban dissident leader survives challenge, says group stronger |
Reuters -
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/11/us-cuba-dissidents-idUSKBN0M72JC20150311