Cuban Dissidents' Wives Allowed to Protest

One week after being confronted by a group of pro-government counter protesters, the wives of jailed dissidents marched peacefully Sunday after Easter services to demand the release of their husbands.

The counter protesters from the Federation of Cuban Women had indicated last week they would return again on Sunday, but they did not.

"I think that this time they didn't want to make the same big error, especially with the vote in Geneva coming," said marcher Gisela Delgado, referring to the expected vote on Cuba's human rights record in mid-April by the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

Delgado is the wife of prisoner Hector Palacios, one of 75 dissidents rounded up two years ago on a crackdown on independent writers and journalists.

Although 14 of the original 75 have been freed on medical parole, the other 61 remain behind bars serving sentences ranging from six to 28 years on charges of working with U.S. officials to undermine Fidel Castro's government — something the dissidents and Washington deny.

Delgado said her husband has been in the prison hospital for several months with arterial problems and called on the government to release him and other political prisoners.

Sunday's peaceful half-hour march by about 30 women dressed in white and each carrying a single orange gladiola after services at Santa Rita Catholic Church contrasted with that of the previous week, when more than 100 women government supporters held a noisy counter protest with shouts of "Viva Fidel!" — "Long live Fidel!"

While the wives demanded the release of their husbands, the protesters from the Federation of Cuban Woman called for the release of the "Five Heroes" — five Cuban intelligence agents serving long terms in U.S. federal prisons.

Afterward, Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque declared that the government supporters had every right to hold their counter protest, as long as they remained "within ethics and limits."

On Friday, the women known as the "Ladies in White" for the clothing worn during their weekly march, sent a letter to Castro asking that their right to peacefully protest be respected and calling the interruption of their previous demonstration "an act of provocation."

Also Friday, the European Union's development commissioner, Louis Michel, discussed human rights issues with Castro during a visit to the island.

He later stressed that the delicate nature of EU-Cuban relations made it crucial for European nations, the Cuban government and opposition leaders to avoid "useless provocations." Michel, who arrived in Cuba late Thursday, was leaving Cuba Sunday.