From the very beginning of the foundation of the group, Ladies in White are being by the Cuban authorities. Even though, they are not giving in. We present some of the way they are

repressed:

• They are arrested during meetings
• Husbands, fathers and son are kept in prisons located far away from their places of residence, and taking into consideration the transportation situation in Cuba, visit from their families is obstructed.
• The education of their sons are impeded or obstructed.
• They are allowed to make phone calls to the prison, but only the day they are meeting together.
• They are attacked on the street by unknown people, with no reaction from the police.
• They are being harassed on the streets
• It is not possible for them to take a job, which make life difficult for them as they often are the only person able to earn a living within the family.
• Women from the called “Brigades of Fast Response” block the entrance of their homes for many hours.
• The government organizes demonstrations with people shouting at them, often in frton of Santa Rita church.
• They are being provoked.

The organization Reporters without Frontiers created the category (Predator of Press Freedom) defined as:

Leaders or people in power, which support violation of the freedom of speech, but their responsibility is not always clearly visible. Regardless of the position they occupy (Presidents, Ministers, Heads of State, religious or military leaders, these predators of the freedom of speech make profit of their power in order to censure, imprison, sequestrate, torture, or even to murder journalists.

In order to have a better understanding of the situation, Reporters without Frontiers characterized Fidel Castro as follows:

Castro is the longest living dictator in the planet, the secret of his success is the absolute lack of criticism towards him. 22 journalists who tried to break the government dominance in the area of information were put in jail. They were arrested in March 2003 and they were condemned up to 27 years imprisonment; they have very tough living conditions. Journalists who are still free, are being repressed and harassed. Raul Rivero, poet and journalist,  was freed by the end of 2004, but it does not brought  any changes to the Cuban government’s policy related to the freedom of speech.

 (see: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=13406 )