Interviews with Berta Soler

In my country I would like to have true, free elections, where you can elect a president. If today he is not good, you are able to elect a different one in four years. I want people to be able to move freely, where people can have their own businesses, where there can be exchanges between countries, and where a people with values can exist. Because in Cuba we have to think about saving values. In Cuba the government has promoted the loss of values, not only at the level of common Cuban citizens, but also the level of government. Within this loss of values you find theft, deceit, fraud, and other obscene words.

I would like for my country to be an educated country where values exist, where theft and deceit do not exist, where there are freedoms, where there are businesses, and where you can handle your business without having to report to anyone or where no one can demand, “You have to do things this way.” I want a country where the government does not take everything like they do in Cuba. That’s what I want. I want a country where kids smile and have all they need to be happy.

Children do not move from stage to stage. They do not have a childhood. They must fly through childhood to become adults because they do not even experience adolescence. It is very important for my country to be like all the countries where freedom and democracy exist.

Today we are here in the U.S. They chose a president, [Barack] Obama. Some did and some did not. But that is democracy. They elected him to four more years. We know soon it will end. Then they will elect another. And if they made an error, then nothing. It will be like Spain where they were mistaken about [Mariano] Rajoy and four years later they elected another. But it should be this way: true elections.

[Barack Obama (1961 -) is the 44th President of the United States. Mariano Rajoy (1955 -) has served as Prime Minister of Spain since 2011.]

I am very optimistic. Our fight is to peacefully change our country into a Cuba where there are freedoms and respect for human rights, where people are not arrested simply for defending the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, where children can smile, where we can all have the same possibilities, and where we can elect our president.

If we are wrong, we know that in four years we can make changes. Where we can have decent food and homes. We cannot expect anything from the government because it wants to stay in power no matter what. It is looking for loans so it sells a false image to the international community. Those of us who are aware of the peaceful movement for a new Cuba have faith, hope and optimism that one day, Cuba will be free.

Berta Soler Fernández was born in Cuba in 1963. She studied microbiology and became a hospital technician in Havana. In 1988, Berta married Angel Moya Acosta, an opposition activist who became one of 75 nonviolent dissidents arrested during the March 2003 crackdown known as the Black Spring.

Berta’s activism began after Cuban authorities imprisoned her husband in 2003. Joining with other spouses and family members of the Black Spring prisoners, she became a founding member of an organization called the Ladies in White (Damas de Blanco) that demanded the release of their loved ones and advocated for greater civil liberties in Cuba.

In October 2004, the Ladies in White staged protests in front of the Communist Party’s headquarters in Revolution Square, pressuring the government to allow Berta’s husband to undergo surgery for a herniated disc. The protest went on for two days until the regime permitted Angel’s operation.

Berta was a central figure 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, the Black Spring dissidents, including Berta’s husband, were released. While the majority of the prisoners went into exile, Berta and Angel chose to remain in Cuba.

In 2005, the European Parliament awarded the Ladies in White its Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. Berta, along with the other representatives of the organization, planned to receive the honor in person. However, the Cuban government denied them passports and they were unable to attend the ceremony. In 2013, after the regime had relaxed its repressive travel restrictions, Berta received permission to leave the island and led a delegation to accept the 2005 Sakharov Prize on behalf of the Ladies in White.

In 2011, Berta assumed the leadership of the Ladies in White following the death of the organization’s co-founder, Laura Pollan. She continues the struggle for a free and democratic Cuba.