Every Sunday, between 12:30pm and 1pm, Berta Soler Fern\u00e1ndez prepares herself. She and her husband, \u00c1ngel Moya Acosta step outside their home, a square, two story building painted red, with a light green porch. They have every intention of making their way to a Roman Catholic Church in the Miramar section of Havana, Cuba. The church is named for Saint Rita of Cascia, the patron saint of abuse, loss, peace, desperate cases and lost causes. They will attend Mass and offer up prayers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Berta is dressed all in white.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Every Sunday, between 12:30pm and 1pm, Berta and \u00c1ngel open the door of their home and are met by National Revolutionary Police (NRP) officers and Department of State Security (DSS) agents. Mobs of paramilitary members, some holding signs with offensive and insulting messages, hold up mobile phones as they record the couple\u2019s movements. The two are forced into DSS cars with private license plates and, instead of going to Mass, they are taken to an NRP station. They are ordered to undergo an intrusive medical examination. They refuse because they have not asked for an examination and know that they will not be provided with the results anyway. Those will go to the DSS. Berta and \u00c1ngel are then sent to semi-dark prison cells where they will be held until the following morning. They will be taken by car and dropped off near their home, which also serves as the national headquarters for the Ladies in White, a dissident group that has been holding peaceful protests in support of political prisoners since 2003.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
There are small differences each week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sometimes Berta and \u00c1ngel are taken in the same vehicle to the NRP station, sometimes they are forced into separate cars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some Sundays Berta is given a bed bug infested mattress, other Sundays she is given nothing at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some Sundays Berta is denied water, other Sundays she is only permitted to quench her thirst at the discretion of the prison guards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On one occasion, she was forced to disrobe and squat. She refused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00c1ngel has been ordered to remove his flip-flops, exposing his feet to the filth of the prison cell floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On one occasion, a DSS officer ordered guards to knock him down onto the floor. One of the guards pushed his knee into \u00c1ngel\u2019s back while another bent \u00c1ngel\u2019s right leg and painfully twisted his ankle. They pulled his arms tight behind his back, causing lacerations and inflammation in his wrists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some Sundays Berta and \u00c1ngel are ordered to sign an Acta de Advertencia<\/em>, a kind of pre-arrest warrant, for the future crimes of disrespect, disobedience, and disturbing the public order. They always refuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes they are fined. The amount varies. It could be as much 150 CUP or as low 30 CUP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Berta has been released as early at 5:45am and as late as 11:50am on the following morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Berta and \u00c1ngel are never allowed a Bible or anything else to read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like a dark version of the 1993 movie Groundhog Day, Berta relives same day each Sunday, over and over and over again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Berta is not alone in experiencing the same series of events every Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each week in Havana, Gladis Capote Roque, Mar\u00eda Josefa Acon Sardi\u00f1a, Marieta Mart\u00ednez Aguilera, Yolanda Santana Ayala and Zenaida Hidalgo Cede\u00f1o are detained through the hours of Sunday morning Mass to stop them from attending the Church of Saint Rita of Cascia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each week in Santa Clara, Villa Clara, Marbelis Gonz\u00e1lez Reyes and Yaima Elena P\u00e9rez L\u00f3pez are detained through the hours of Sunday morning Mass to stop them from attending the Cathedral of Saint Claire of Assisi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each week in Banes, Holguin, Marexis Luzsao Tamayo and Yaimara Vargas Arango are detained through the hours of Sunday morning Mass to stop them from attending the Church of Our Lady of Charity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And, each week in C\u00e1rdenas, Col\u00f3n, Perico, and Uni\u00f3n de Reyes, Matanzas, Amada Rosa Herrer\u00edas Rodr\u00edguez, Asunci\u00f3n Carrillo Hern\u00e1ndez, Caridad Burunate G\u00f3mez, Elsa Osiris Castro Palau, Julia Silvia Gonz\u00e1lez Fundora, Lazara Le\u00f3n Cabrera, Lazarahy Valido Cambert, Leticia Ramos Herrer\u00eda, Marisol Socorro Fern\u00e1ndez, Maritza Acosta Perdomo, Mayra Garc\u00eda \u00c1lvarez, Mercedes De la Guardia Hern\u00e1ndez, Mercedes de la Caridad Bacallao de la Guardia, Odalis Hern\u00e1ndez Hern\u00e1ndez, Ramona Terrero Batista, Rebeca Santos Hern\u00e1ndez, Sonia \u00c1lvarez Campillo, Soraya Vicencio Campos, Yesenia Campillo Garc\u00eda, and Yudaixis P\u00e9rez Meneses are detained through the hours of Sunday morning Mass to stop them from attending the Church of the Immaculate Conception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They might be arrested the moment they leave their house, or a few streets away en route to church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They might be taken to a DSS facility or a local police station, or they might be forced to sit, handcuffed, inside a police vehicle parked in the sun with the windows rolled up and without access to water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They might be fined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They might be allowed to leave the detention facility to go home, or they might be driven outside of urban areas and forced to find their own way home from remote locations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The details may change in small ways, but the days are the same. Each Sunday for the past 20 years the Cuban government has invested significant resources, especially in terms of manpower and time, across the country to stop women affiliated with the Ladies in White from stepping inside a church, to prevent them from praying there, and to make sure they are not allowed to participate in the fellowship of Sunday services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the movie, Bill Murray\u2019s character finally escapes the cycle by becoming a better man and declaring his love for the character of Rita. For Berta and the other Ladies in White, however, there is no escape. The only lessons to be learned are for the Cuban government, which still erroneously believes that brute force and intimidation can destroy a woman\u2019s understanding, rooted in her faith, of what is right and true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Cuban government is relentless, but so is Berta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This Sunday, between 12:30pm and 1pm, Berta Soler Fern\u00e1ndez will prepare herself. She and her husband, \u00c1ngel Moya Acosta will step outside their home, a square, two story building painted red, with a light green porch. They will have every intention of making their way to a Roman Catholic Church in the Miramar section of Havana, Cuba. The church is named for Saint Rita of Cascia, the patron saint of abuse, loss, peace, desperate cases and lost causes. They will plan to attend mass and offer up prayers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Berta will be dressed all in white.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By CSW\u2019s Head of Advocacy and Americas Team Leader Anna Lee Stangl<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Imagen destacada:<\/strong><\/em> Berta Soler Fern\u00e1ndez and \u00c1ngel Moya Acosta on Sunday 3 March 2024. Credit: Berta Soler Fern\u00e1ndez.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Every Sunday, between 12:30pm and 1pm, Berta Soler Fern\u00e1ndez prepares herself. 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