Interviews with Alejandrina García de la Riva

Free is free. It´s like flying, not being afraid. Like breathing and having oxygen fill the lungs. That one does not shrink from anything. That one can look and see beautiful things.

That there be no fear, no ugliness. That one may have a nice family, that they can live as a family. Go out and see green as a beautiful green, blue as a beautiful blue.

That´s freedom to me. Not being afraid. Not shrinking, but breathing and saying that everything is fine.

[Human freedom comes] from within each person. But the freedom of which I speak is the nation’s freedom, not my inner freedom. I feel free with what I do, despite the fears. I feel truly a free woman.

In Cuba I know [State] security is there but I keep walking ahead. They do not allow me to go to church, but I leave my home. Because I go to church, I go to Mass.

I know that they do not want this, but I do it because I feel free to do so. That is the freedom of the fight, but freedom … I do it because I feel free spiritually. Nothing constrains me.

That is to feel free and be free. That is learned. The other freedom is internal. How can I say it, what God said to me: “I created you free, you have the freedom to do what you believe. The good and the bad and you are whatever you want to be. Regardless of the fact that I want you to be good.”

Alejandrina García de la Riva was born on April 12, 1966, in Matanzas, Cuba. Her first years of life were spent on a sugar mill in the municipality of Calimente. She went to technical school at the Álvaro Reynoso Institute in order to study agriculture and agronomy and held jobs as a statistician, grocer, independent journalist, and a correspondent for Servicio Noticuba, a press agency considered illegal by the Cuban government.

In 1983, Alejandrina married Diosdado González Marrero, a decision that ultimately led her down the path of nonviolent civil resistance. Together the couple has two children and three grandchildren.

In March 2003, Alejandrina’s husband was one of 75 nonviolent dissidents to be arrested in a massive government crackdown known as the Black Spring. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison. In response, Alejandrina and other wives, mothers, and sisters of those imprisoned during the Black Spring founded the Ladies in White [Damas de Blanco].

The Ladies in White became a formidable civil society organization that planned weekly marches through the streets of Havana, peacefully protesting for the freedom of political prisoners and the expansion of civil liberties and political freedoms in Cuba. As a result of her participation, Alejandrina was arrested and harassed by the Cuban authorities on numerous occasions.

Alejandrina played a crucial role in orchestrating the release of her husband and other Black Spring political prisoners. The Ladies in White lobbied Cardinal Jaime Ortega, the leading representative of the Roman Catholic Church in Cuba, and convinced him to negotiate for the release of the prisoners. By 2011, after years of protests and several hunger strikes, the Black Spring dissidents, including Alejandrina’s husband, were released. While the majority of the prisoners went into exile, Alejandrina and Diosdado chose to remain in Cuba.

Alejandrina lives in Mantazas Province and remains active in the Ladies in White Movement.