Maura Jacqueline Barrera Martinez said members of Las Damas de Apoyo will continue their protests despite the release of the 52 prisoners who were part of those rounded up during the March 2003 crackdown on dissidents. She said:
We, at least those of us in Damas de Apoyo, will continue until they free the last prisoner from jail.
See more of interview in 4-minute video on the Cuba Money Project’s Vimeo channel.
Barrera said her husband, Alexi Reyes Rivera, 42, was a political dissident in Cuba. He was pressured to abandon the country and left by raft, risking his life at sea. Today he lives in Kendall, Fla. Barrera said she hopes to someday join him.
State-run media in Cuba frequently claims that dissidents and protesters are “fabricated” and financed from abroad. Barrera denied that. She said:
At no moment are we paid to march. We march for a just struggle, which is the liberty of prisoners, but it’s not paid.
