PLEASE JOIN US
YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO JOIN VISUAL ARTISTS GUILD
           TO STAND WITH THE LADIES IN WHITE AND BRING ATTENTION TO:
                   CUBA'S POLITICAL PRISONERS
                  THE ARBITRARY ARRESTS OF CUBA'S HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS    
                     THE REPRESSIONS AGAINST INDEPENDENT JOURNALISTS, WRITERS, AND ARTISTS

ladiesinwhite.jpgWHERE:    Pasadena Doo-Dah Parade – FREE, see map below
                   We are one of the groups in the parade:
                   The Great Firewall of China Marching Brigade.

DATE:        Sunday, November 19, 2017
                  The parade starts at 11:00 a.m.

TIME:        Do join us and be part of the parade; please be there by 9:30 a.m.
                   to practice our skits.  No experience necessary

 Volunteers are needed: 
 Our aim to present the current situation in Cuba in a way that is readily understood by the general audience.
+(2) Men to dress as Castro Police (will provide medium size costumes)
+(1) Male dresses as Castro Police (will provide medium size costume) carrying a sonic device
+(3-4) Men/Women dressed in business suits and carrying briefcase that we will add a "US Embassy" sticker
+(the more the merrier) Ladies dressed all in white who will be given a gladiola to hold and march
+Others are welcomed to join in carrying signs on human rights for Cuba ( white T-shirt, dark pants.)

MEET:        Meet on Nina St, between Altadena Dr and Vindeo Ave in Pasadena

INFORMATION:  Visual Artists Guild, Ann Lau 310-433-0697, alau@visual-artists-guild.org

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

The U.S. began normalization with Cuba in December 2014:

  • 53 political prisoners in Cuba were released in the beginning. 
  • However, many of those who refused to self exile themselves were soon re-arrested.
  • Prisoners are forced to work 12-hour days and punished if they do not meet production quotas.
  • The Ladies in White, a group of women who every Sunday after mass would silently march to press for the release of their loved ones have been routinely harassed, beaten and arrested.
  • Currently, the Cuban government used a new tactic against the Ladies in White by detaining them before Sunday mass and then release them a day or so later so as to prevent them from their Sunday silent protest.
  • Independent journalists, writers, academics and artists who expressed their thoughts are subject to arrests, smear campaign and termination of their jobs.
  • Even reporting on the weather has become dangerous.  Journalists Maykel Gonzalez Vivero and Carlos Alejandro Rodrigquez were detained on trying to report on the arrival of Hurricane Irma this year.  Last year, they and Elaine Diaz and four of her colleagues were detained for reporting on the damages from Hurricane Matthew with Vivero being imprisoned for three days.
  • Since late last year, U.S. diplomatic personnel and their family members have experienced "hearing loss, dizziness, headache, fatigue, cognitive issues and difficulty sleeping" according to the U.S. State Department.  Although Cuba denied it, it is suspected that Cuba had used some type of sonic attacks on the U.S. diplomats and their family. 

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