Pictures of Gloria Estefan in progress tosupport the Damas de Blanco
With tears in his eyes but smiling, Gloria Estefan came to a stand the end of a spot that she led on Thursday that drew thousands of protesters in the Miami neighborhood known as Little Havana to show support for dissidents in Cuba.
“Thanks, Miami, Estefan shouted the crowd filled the street.” We are people united by our love of freedom. We are here with all our different flags. That’s what allows us to make this great country. ”
Shouting “Freedom, freedom”, the demonstrators gathered in support of the Damas de Blanco, a group of mothers and wives of 75 dissidents arrested during an operation conducted by the government of the island in 2003. Last week, when the Ladies in White march in Havana to commemorate the anniversary of the arrests, the surrounding pro-government groups, and security officers underwent several.
During the march on Thursday in Miami, many participants brought their children and grandparents.
Estefan, born in Cuba and honored with a Grammy as a singer and lyricist, he showed a photo of the Ladies in White and carried two gladiolus, the same flowers that Cuban dissidents are in their protests. Beside her were other singers, including Pit Bull, Willy Chirino, Natalia Jimenez and Luis Fonsi.
A small plane flew overhead with a sign attached that read “Freedom for political prisoners.
The march passed calmly, and joined different generations. Unlike earlier protests, there were few slogans condemning Fidel Castro, the ailing former leader of the Caribbean country.
The human rights record of Cuba has drawn worldwide attention in recent weeks with the death of dissident Orlando Zapata Tamayo at a hunger strike, the hospitalization of a second activist, Guillermo Farinas, and a video of the treatment of Damas de Blanco.
“I see the rest of the world answer, see answer to the European Union, people who usually stands by Fidel Castro. I thought, ‘Oh my God. I am a woman. I am Cuban. I have the opportunity to speak at music. It’s something I do, ‘ “said Estefan, before the march, which took his daughter of 15.
“We Cubans have many different opinions, but one thing we agree is that we want freedom for the Cubans on the island, said the singer.
In Havana, a score of Damas de Blanco also held a march at the same time as that of Miami.
The women left the house of one of them, Laura Pollan and headed to the seawall where Havana threw white doves. A few minutes later about 300 people, visibly government supporters, carrying Cuban flags and the Federation of University Students, they found living in step with Fidel and Raul Castro and the revolution.
There were no acts of violence and the Ladies returned to the chicken house.
Colombian singer Shakira, joined voices in support Estefan. In an emailed statement, the star said that the ladies in white are “true heroes of our time, standards of courage and female victims of repression and violation of human rights in Cuba.”
President Barack Obama spoke on Wednesday when he called Zapata Tamayo’s death as tragic.
“The repression inflicted on the Damas de Blanco and intensified harassment of those who dare to give voice to the wishes of his fellow Cubans, are deeply disturbing,” said Bush.
Obama said the past year has shown interest in improving relations between both nations.
But he said he was “committed to supporting the Cuban people’s simple desire to freely determine their future and enjoy the rights and freedoms that define the Americas, and that should be universal to all human beings.”
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