DATA OF INTEREST

GUEST:
BERTA SOLER

HOST:
ANAELI IBARRA


Synopsis:

Conversation with the Cuban activist and leader of the movement Damas de Blanco, Berta Soler, about her trajectory in opposition to the Cuban government and the emergency faced by collectives of women in the late 90s and early twenty-first century. Berta shares the history of the Damas de Blanco, its precedent in the Comité de Madres Leonor Pérez, how they relate to the waves of state repression against dissidents (primarily men), women´s strategies of resistance and dissent, control tactics exercised over the movement (deprivation of public utilities, interrogations, forced exile, imprisonment, harassment, pressure exerted over families, etc.)

Bio:

Berta de los Ángeles Soler Fernández

Berta de los Ángeles Soler Fernández was born July 31, 1963 in Jovellanos, Matanzas. She is a microbiologist with 29 years of experience. A wife and mother of two children exiled in the United State, her spouse was a former political prisoner on four occasions.

She began her political activism in January 2000 with the Comité de madres Leonor Pérez (family members of political prisoners). In March 2003 she joined the Damas de Blanco (family members of the political prisoners known as “el grupo de los 75.”) as a member. In October 2011, after the death (murder) of Laura Pollán, she took over the leadership of the Damas de Blanco.

VIDEO

Las Damas comienzan en Primavera, con Berta Soler

PODCAST