The activist and Cuban opposition leader Berta Soler, founder and current leader of the Damas de Blanco movement, was awarded the Lech Wałęsa Solidarity Prize 2025 this Tuesday, one of the most significant international accolades for human rights defenders.
The award was presented at a ceremony held at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Miami-Dade, presided over by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland, Radosław Sikorski; and with the participation of the Secretary of State of the United States, Marco Rubio.
Although Soler was unable to attend in person due to the restrictions imposed by the Cuban regime, he participated virtually to express his gratitude for the award.
During his online connection with the attendees, Soler reported that he was without internet service that very morning, a common isolation tactic used by the regime.
"I am out of communication... There will be our brothers, Damas de Blanco, and many people whom I am very grateful to," she stated.
She also reiterated her rejection of the conditions imposed by the Cuban authorities to leave the country, which involve accepting a "one-way exit," which she deemed unacceptable.
"Today I cannot leave due to the communist tyranny of Cuba, which imposes an irreversible exit on me, a condition I do not accept, because I will stay in Cuba," he said.
The statuette was collected in her name by Irma Santos de Mas Canosa, the widow of the historic opposition leader Jorge Mas Canosa.
The Lech Wałęsa Solidarity Prize includes a statuette and a monetary award of $275,000.
According to Soler, in addition to sharing it with his family, part of the prize will be allocated to strengthen the aid funds for Cuban political prisoners and the Ladies in White.
During the award ceremony, Marco Rubio highlighted the activist's journey, her persistence in the face of systematic repression, and her key role as a symbol of resistance.
"It is an honor for me to present the award today to Berta Soler for her courage, resilience, and determination," said the Polish chancellor.
For more than two decades, Soler has been leading Sunday marches alongside the Ladies in White, demanding the release of political prisoners in Cuba.
In recent years, she has been detained numerous times while trying to attend Mass at Santa Rita Church in Havana, one of the most representative actions of that oppositional movement.
The Lech Wałęsa Solidarity Award
Established in 2014 at the initiative of Radosław Sikorski, then Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, the award honors those who actively promote democracy and civil rights around the world.
Its committee is chaired by former Polish President Lech Wałęsa, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate in 1983, and includes members of the Polish government and the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights.
The award was last presented in 2017 and was reactivated in 2024.
Among its previous winners are personalities such as the Tatar leader of Crimea Mustafa Dzhemilev, the Russian activist Zhanna Nemtsova, and the Belarusian opposition figure Pavel Latushka.
In 2014, the Cuban Manuel Cuesta Morúa was nominated for the award by the International Democratic Solidarity Program of the Center for Open and Democratic Development in Latin America (CADAL), in recognition of his democratic activism.
The Ladies in White, two decades of resistance
Founded in 2003, the Damas de Blanco movement emerged after the mass arrests during the so-called Black Spring, when 75 peaceful opponents were imprisoned.
Their wives, mothers, and daughters began to march peacefully every Sunday, dressed in white and holding gladiolus flowers, down Fifth Avenue in Havana.
In 2005, the European Parliament awarded them the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, although the Cuban regime tried to prevent some of their representatives from traveling to receive it. Following the death of their founder, Laura Pollán, in 2011, Berta Soler took over the leadership of the group and has maintained that role to this day, even under constant harassment.
Who is Berta Soler?
Born on July 31, 1963, in Matanzas, Berta de los Ángeles Soler Fernández has been one of the leading figures of the Cuban dissidence for years.
She trained as a mid-level technician in microbiology and worked for years at a gyneco-obstetric hospital in Havana until she resigned in 2009 due to harassment from State Security.
Her political commitment was solidified alongside her husband, the opposition figure Ángel Moya Acosta, one of the 75 political prisoners of 2003.
Since then, he has been a victim of arbitrary detentions, acts of repudiation, surveillance, and systematic repression.
However, he has never wavered in his goal: the freedom of political prisoners and the respect for human rights in Cuba.
“We will continue fighting for the freedom of all political prisoners,” stated Soler during her acceptance speech for the significant award she received this Tuesday.
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