Laura Inés Pollán Toledo (February 13, 1948 in Manzanillo, Cuba – October 14, 2011) was a prominent Cuban opposition leader. Pollan founded the dissident group Ladies in White, which holds pacific protest marches with the wives and spouses of political prisoners in Cuba to demand their release. Pollan worked as a literature teacher until her retirement in 2004. In 2003, her husband,

Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez Héctor Fernando Maseda Gutiérrez is a Cuban nuclear engineer and a journalist. The Fidel Castro regime arrested him during the 2003 "Black Spring" and sentenced him to 20 years in jail. He was released in February, 2011. Amnesty Internationa ...

, and seventy-four other Cubans, now known as the Group of 75, were arrested in the Black Spring, a crackdown on opposition figures. The group included journalists, activists, and commentators whom the Cuban government accused of taking money from foreign governments, including the United States. Pollan soon began appearing outside government facilities where her husband could have potentially been imprisoned. She soon ran into the wives of other political prisoners, which led to the founding of the Ladies in White. Pollan always wore white, a symbol of the organization, and became a key opposition figure in Cuba. Her home at 963 Calle Neptuno in Havana became a center of opposition where she hosted literary tea for wives of political prisoners. Pollan died of cardiorespiratory arrest on October 14, 2011, at the age of 63. She had been hospitalized since October 7. According to the Cuban government, she had suffered from

dengue fever Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne tropical disease caused by the dengue virus. Symptoms typically begin three to fourteen days after infection. These may include a high fever, headache, vomiting, muscle and joint pains, and a characterist ...

."Cuba 'Ladies in White' founder Laura Pollan dies"
BBC News, 15 October 2011.

References

External links

* ttp://internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2011/10/15/actualidad/1318693329_447251.html Laura Pollán, la profesora a la que no interesaba la política

Carles Pérez-Desoy Fages Carles () is a common Catalan given name of Germanic origin, which also appears as a surname. The English language equivalent is Charles. The name Carles can refer to: People * Carles (name) Places * Carles, Iloilo, a 2nd class municipality in t ...

, El País, 15-10-2011 {{DEFAULTSORT:Pollan, Laura 1948 births 2011 deaths Cuban dissidents Cuban human rights activists 20th-century Cuban educators 21st-century Cuban educators Cuban women educators Women human rights activists