They can either kill us, put us in jail or release them. We will never stop marching no matter what happens.” – Laura Inés Pollán Toledo (2010)

Who was Laura Pollán? Why does the Castro dictatorship still fear her legacy?

Laura Pollán became a dissident when her husband Hector Maseda was imprisoned during the Black Cuban Spring of 2003 along with more than 75 other activists and civil society members. She was one of the founders of the Ladies in White and challenged the Castro regime on the streets of Cuba.

In an interview published on October 14, 2026 with Martí Noticias, Berta Soler, the organization’s current leader, reflected on the significance of this anniversary and the continued relevance of Pollán’s message in Cuba’s current landscape.

We pay tribute and homage to Laura, as today marks 15 years since her passing. Laura Pollán—our leader, a woman who was a teacher, professor, guide, fighter, friend, and sister—was taken from us by the Cuban regime 15 years ago. We say “taken” because she died under suspicious circumstances involving unexplained gaps in the regime’s account; we are certain that the regime contributed to hastening her death—that it killed Laura Pollán.

Cuban human rights defender Janisset Rivero, in an article published in 2022 in Marti Noticias, provides a reflection on why Havana feared this civic leader.

“Laura had a sweet voice and an accent from the east of the country; she had been a teacher of literature, and I suspect that her literary knowledge made her identify with the beauty of the cause of freedom in Cuba. Her husband, dedicated to political opposition work, put her at a crossroads, like many other relatives of political prisoners in Cuba at the beginning of the millennium. Laura took up the challenge [in 2003] and believed in her mission. She raised up love against hatred, peace against terror. She did it without losing her sweetness, but with a poise and common sense that earned her leadership among the other women.”

This is why the dictatorship fears her, and we honor her memory. The proof of a great leader is measured by who follows them in leadership.  Berta Soler, a former hospital technician with training in microbiology, today, 15 years later, continues to push for freedom. The Cuban dictatorship did all it could to crush the Ladies in White, including physical violence, but Laura, and the other Ladies in White, answered with strategic non-violent resistance achieving greater visibility both internationally and nationally.

Following brutal repression, in an effort to prevent them from marching through the streets of Havana, Laura Pollán directly challenged the regime declaring, “we will never give up our protest. The authorities have three options — free our husbands, imprison us or kill us.” One Lady in White is currently serving a long and unjust prison sentence for defending human rights. Her name is Saylí Navarro.

Imprisoned Lady in White: Saylí Navarro, who is in poor health today.

“They tried to silence 75 voices, but now there are more than 75 voices shouting to the world the injustices the government has committed.” (2004)

“We fight for the freedom of our husbands, the union of our families. We love our men.” (2005)

“They can either kill us, put us in jail or release them. We will never stop marching no matter what happens.” (2010)

“We are going to continue. We are fighting for freedom and human rights.” (September 24, 2011)

“As long as this government is around there will be prisoners because while they’ve let some go, they’ve put others in jail. It is a never-ending story.” (2011)

“If we must give our own lives in pursuit of the freedom of our Cuba that it be what God wants.” (September 24, 2011)

“We are not going to stop. If you have imprisoned our sisters thinking that we would give up, they are mistaken. We are very united (…) all the women’s movements are very close.” (October 2, 2011)

“My life has changed a lot, now I have learned to love the country much more, the prisoners, the humanity. That’s how I have so much work, that I don’t have much time to think about myself, what really satisfies me, in short, I owe myself to other more important tasks. Now I understand much more, before I could not understand these things, you have to live and feel them to be able to dedicate soul heart and life to this beautiful cause.” (2011)

Cuban women who speak out and exercise their fundamental rights are regularly slandered, physically assaulted and sometimes die under suspicious circumstances as Laura did fifteen years ago on October 14, 2011.

Notes from the Cuban Exile Quarter, October 15, 2026

15 Years Later: The Woman the Castro Regime Still Fears — Remembering Laura Pollán

“They can either kill us, put us in jail or release them. We will never stop marching no matter what happens.” – Laura Inés Pollán Toledo

Laura Inés Pollán Toledo, a courageous woman who spoke truth to power and protested in the streets of Cuba demanding an amnesty for Cuban political prisoners. A woman who had been a school teacher, before her husband was jailed for his independent journalism in 2003. She led the Ladies in White, a women’s movement, and paid the ultimate price for her defiance of the dictatorship 15 years ago on October 14, 2011.

In an interview published on October 14, 2026 with Martí Noticias, Berta Soler, the organization’s current leader, reflected on the significance of this anniversary and the continued relevance of Pollán’s message in Cuba’s current landscape.

We pay tribute and homage to Laura, as today marks 15 years since her passing. Laura Pollán—our leader, a woman who was a teacher, professor, guide, fighter, friend, and sister—was taken from us by the Cuban regime 15 years ago. We say “taken” because she died under suspicious circumstances involving unexplained gaps in the regime’s account; we are certain that the regime contributed to hastening her death—that it killed Laura Pollán.

Laura Pollán became a dissident when her husband Hector Maseda was imprisoned during the Black Cuban Spring of 2003 along with more than 75 other activists and civil society members. She was one of the founders of the Ladies in White and challenged the Castro regime on the streets of Cuba. Following brutal repression in an effort to prevent them from marching through the streets of Havana Laura Pollan directly and nonviolently challenged the regime: “We will never give up our protest. The authorities have three options — free our husbands, imprison us or kill us.

Despite all the efforts of the Cuban communist dictatorship that has a monopoly over force and the mass media in Cuba, Laura was able with a small group of courageous women to take to the streets and demonstrate. Not once or twice but on a weekly basis since her husband was unjustly imprisoned in March of 2003. The dictatorship did everything they could to stop them, including brute violence. Bruises and broken bones did not deter these ladies and they continued marching with casts and slings.

Over a 100,000 people dressed in white took to the streets in Miami in the spring of 2010 to protest the violence against these women led by Gloria Estefan, who had organized the demonstration in solidarity with this movement.

In the summer of 2010 the dictatorship finally began the process of releasing the bulk of the remaining prisoners of conscience from the group of the 75 and the last of them were released in the spring of 2011.

Unfortunately, there were new prisoners of conscience whose release the Ladies in White would continue to demand. Laura recognized that “[a]s long as this government is around there will be prisoners because while they’ve let some go, they’ve put others in jail. It is a never-ending story.”

Five days before she became suddenly deathly ill, as the violence and threats escalated, she let the dictatorship know that: “We are not going to stop. If they have imprisoned our sisters thinking that we would give up, they are mistaken. We are very united (…) all the women’s movements are very close.”

On October 14, 2011, Laura Pollan, one of the founders of the human rights movement the Ladies in White died after years of suffering physical and psychological assaults against her person by agents of the Cuban dictatorship.

Finally, she became a martyr of the politicized healthcare system in Cuba. Following the Castroite dictum of “inside the revolution, everything; outside of it, nothing,” the system allowed her to suffer and die within a matter of days under the supervision of doctors who were revolutionaries first and physicians second. A Cuban doctor who reviewed her case file described it as a death by purposeful medical neglect.

The dictatorship’s henchmen feared her words and nonviolent actions. By contributing to her untimely death, they believed they had silenced her, but her legacy endures and she is not forgotten. Laura’s words and deeds are remembered and continue to inspire others.

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