Laura Inés Pollán Toledo

She headed the Ladies in White group until her death in 2011. A Literature professor, she resigned from her job when her husband Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez was sentenced along with 74 other people for carrying out activities against the Cuban government. She was one of the founders of the Ladies in White, a women's movement of peaceful protest that demands the freedom of political prisoners through vigils and marches along major avenues on the island. Laura Pollán was the leader of this group of women until the date of her death, Friday, October 14, 2011, in a hospital in La Habana. In her honor, the members of the Ladies in White Movement decided to add her name to the title of the organization.

A native of Manzanillo in the province of Granma. At age 13 she participated in the Literacy Campaign, which led her to subsequently become a teacher.

In March 2003 the Government of the Republic of Cuba decided to arrest a group of 32 opponents who had attended several meetings with James Cason, Head of the United States Interests Section in La Habana. A total of 29 trials were held in Cuba in which 75 people were accused, among them Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez, Laura Pollán's husband. All received sentences between six and 28 years in prison, with Maseda Gutiérrez receiving a sentence of 20 years.

A group made up fundamentally of the mothers and wives of these prisoners began to publicly demonstrate for their release and adopted the color white as their symbol, with Laura being one of the leaders of the Group.

From their public appearance they began to carry out protest activities. The name of Laura Pollán emerged among the principal organizers, protesters and voices of said group.

Pollán disseminated information outside of Cuba about the activities carried out by the group and was one of the main contacts with the United States Interests Office in Cuba.

In 2011 the WikiLeaks website leaked a request from July 31, 2008 to the State Department, in which Jonathan Farrar, then Head of the U.S. Interests Office in La Habana, requested new funds for Laura Pollán and her Ladies in White group.

Death

In 2011 Pollán was admitted to Calixto García Hospital suffering from acute respiratory failure and with her health complicated by diabetes that she suffered from. She was diagnosed with dengue type 4 and died on October 14, 2011.