Gloria Estefan to Lead March in Support of Cuban Dissidents

Kyle Munzenrieder March 23, 2010 4:24PM

Gloria Estefan, perhaps the most famous Cuban exhile, announced today she will lead a march in support of Cuban protesters in Little Havana.

The Ladies in White, or Damas de Blanco, are the wives and relatives of jailed Cuban dissidents. They marched on the Capitol last Wednesday to protest the seventh anniversary of the Black Spring crackdown, during which their relatives were jailed. Demonstrators were dressed in white to symbolize peace, but police brutally broke up the protest. Calling the women "worms" and shouting "Viva Fidel!" cops grabbed some ladies by the hair and forcibly dragged them to a bus.

Estefan, who made the annoucnement in white, will lead a march this Thursday at 6 p.m. along Little Havana's Calle Ocho.

"For me, at this instant, this is not politics," the singer told El Nuevo Herald. "It's about life, the lives of human beings... but at this moment, seeing what these women are going through, at this moment, historically, it's important, as a Cuban, as a woman, to support these ladies."

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