Being from Miami and half Cuban, my sense of Latin pride is pretty ferocious. My Cubanism, if you will, was fostered by my exile great-grandparents and grandmother, who raised me as a child. Who instilled in me this Latin pride that courses through my veins just as surely as my blood. And just as my pride, my orgullo, pumps through the heart of this third generation Cuban here in the 305, so does my sense of indignation at the plight of my people on the island only 96 miles away from these shores where we enjoy freedom.

Even as I type these words, I am enjoying one of the freedoms that most of us bloggers take for granted: Freedom of Speech. You see, in Cuba, journalist are not free to speak, write or report. The words that they would like to contribute to the masses are muted by the iron fist of communism. None of us will ever suffer punishment at the hands of our government for speaking out against it, but Cuban journalists have.

In fact, on March 18, 2003,  75 separatist were arrested in Cuba for speaking out against the government. 75 husbands and sons, some  of them journalists, some librarians, some human rights and democracy activists, jailed for decrying a communist government that keeps our Cuban brothers and sisters oppressed. The day went on to be called the Black Spring crackdown.

53 of these dissidents remain jailed. In fact, some of them are sentenced to serve decades in jail.

A total violation of human rights.

To paint  clearer picture of the cruel and inhumane treatment that these men are suffering, prisoners are going on months-long hunger strikes to bring the plight of the prisoners to the mainstream. One prisoner, Orlando Zapata Tamayo, died last month after staging an 83-day hunger strike in protest of beatings by guards and other abuses in prison.

The Ladies in White/Damas En Blanco, being brutalized by Castro supporters.

Left without their sons and husbands, the wives of these prisoners decided to protest the Black Spring crackdown with a movement of their own. A statement of nonviolence. A show of solidarity. A show of strength. A silent cry for freedom.

And so, the Damas De Blanco were born. The Ladies in White, fighting oppression and the unfair jailing of their families.

These women protest the imprisonments by attending Mass each Sunday wearing white dresses and then silently walking through the streets dressed in white clothing. The color white is chosen to symbolize peace.

These peaceful protestors, women whose relatives are unjustly imprisoned, are suffering beatings by mobs of civilians and police, alike.

However, these peaceful protesters are being physically abused and harassed by Cuban police and military as well as by Castro-supporting civilians. For the first time in seven years, their march is being halted by force and they are being brutally beaten.

Now, I don’t know about you, but to me, a Latin woman, I cannot abide by that.

I cannot abide by that, not one goddamn iota.

Grammy-winning singer/songwriter/producer Gloria Estefan has organized a march to show solidarity for Las Damas en Blanco, on Miami's Calle Ocho.

Neither can Gloria Estefan, who has asked the Cuban exile community, and the Latin community in the 305 to stand up for these women.

“We need to show strength, we need to show unity,” Estefan said at a news conference Tuesday. “I think it would be a crime for us, Cubans and non-Cubans alike, that live in liberty, not to take this opportunity at this moment in history, to come together and show them that we care.”

Estefan said she believes the violence against the demonstrators illustrates that the Castro regime feels threatened by growing political opposition. “The government is feeling so much pressure that they are becoming even more violent, and these women who did nothing more than walk with their flowers, have been carried off and beaten,” Estefan said.

Estefan is organizing a march this Thursday, March 25th in Little Havana. The march is a chance for Cubans that live in freedom in the 305 to stand up in a show of solidarity for these brave women. She is asking that all participants wear white and sassemble on Beacom Blvd., between SW 7th and 8th Streets, before 6 p.m. The march, which will begin promptly at 6 p.m., will take place on 8th Street from 22nd to 27th Avenues.

“For me, at this instant, this is not politics,” said the singer. “It’s about life, the lives of human being . . . but at this moment, seeing what these women are going through, at this moment, historically, it’s important, as a Cuban, as a woman, to support these ladies.”

This is an ooportunity, a call to action, for us to stand up for our brothers and sisters who are denied the same freedoms we enjoy day-to-day.

This is not a Latin thing. This is not a Cuban thing.

This is a HUMAN RIGHTS thing.

Don’t sleep.

Join the movement.

-goobs