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CNN Live At Daybreak
Prayer, Protest Response to Cuba Crackdown
Aired May 28, 2003 - 05:42 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Cuba's crackdown on dissidents is going virtually unnoticed around the world. Excuse me. But many family members of political prisoners are making their voices heard quietly through prayer and protest.
CNN Havana bureau chief Lucia Newman has their story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Every Sunday, a group of women dressed in white go to prayer at the Church of Santa Rita, the Saint of the Impossible. They're the wives and relatives of political prisoners.
"This church is the advocate of the impossible, of my impossible cause, of my prisoner," says Roberta Soler whose dissident husband was recently sentenced to 25 years in a prison at least a 12-hour drive away, that is if she had a car.
The women don't carry banners, they don't cry out anti-government slogans. In fact, they do nothing except go to mass. And until a few weeks ago, walk around the block afterwards in a silent protest. But even that, it seems, is too much for the Cuban government.
"The security police has visited all the wives, mothers and sisters and children and have threatened them severely," says Dolia Leal. "They told me they'd make me disappear in some Cuban jail, so people are afraid."
Dolia's husband, Nelson Agiat (ph), seen here shortly before his arrest, was sentenced to 18 years in a prison on the other end of the island. Dolia says authorities selectively punish the women for their silent church protest by canceling their visiting rights to the prisons.
"They told me tolerance here in Cuba is over. They said they wouldn't stand for any more of our provocations, that the Americans were going to invade Cuba and that we are also the enemy."
The threats have had some effect. This last Sunday, many of the women stayed away from the Church of Santa Rita, but not all.
"We come here to console each other," says Ofelia Astorac, "not to conspire against the state, as they say, but to console each other."
The women of the Church of Santa Rita concede they too are afraid of reprisals. Yet asked why they continue to go, they answer, because we have nothing more to lose.
Lucia Newman, CNN, Havana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired May 28, 2003 - 05:42 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Cuba's crackdown on dissidents is going virtually unnoticed around the world. Excuse me. But many family members of political prisoners are making their voices heard quietly through prayer and protest.
CNN Havana bureau chief Lucia Newman has their story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Every Sunday, a group of women dressed in white go to prayer at the Church of Santa Rita, the Saint of the Impossible. They're the wives and relatives of political prisoners.
"This church is the advocate of the impossible, of my impossible cause, of my prisoner," says Roberta Soler whose dissident husband was recently sentenced to 25 years in a prison at least a 12-hour drive away, that is if she had a car.
The women don't carry banners, they don't cry out anti-government slogans. In fact, they do nothing except go to mass. And until a few weeks ago, walk around the block afterwards in a silent protest. But even that, it seems, is too much for the Cuban government.
"The security police has visited all the wives, mothers and sisters and children and have threatened them severely," says Dolia Leal. "They told me they'd make me disappear in some Cuban jail, so people are afraid."
Dolia's husband, Nelson Agiat (ph), seen here shortly before his arrest, was sentenced to 18 years in a prison on the other end of the island. Dolia says authorities selectively punish the women for their silent church protest by canceling their visiting rights to the prisons.
"They told me tolerance here in Cuba is over. They said they wouldn't stand for any more of our provocations, that the Americans were going to invade Cuba and that we are also the enemy."
The threats have had some effect. This last Sunday, many of the women stayed away from the Church of Santa Rita, but not all.
"We come here to console each other," says Ofelia Astorac, "not to conspire against the state, as they say, but to console each other."
The women of the Church of Santa Rita concede they too are afraid of reprisals. Yet asked why they continue to go, they answer, because we have nothing more to lose.
Lucia Newman, CNN, Havana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
