Berta Soler, described by the Associated Press as “one of Cuba’s leading dissidents,” co-founded and now leads the Ladies in White, a group of wives and female relatives of political prisoners in Cuba. Each Sunday, they attend mass together dressed in white and march silently through the streets of Havana in protest of the unjust incarceration of their relatives and lack of human rights and political freedoms in Cuba. Soler and the other ladies are routinely attacked and beaten by Cuban agents. Many have been detained, questioned and arrested as a result of their involvement. Despite the persistent threat to their lives and attempts by the Cuban government to silence them, Soler and the Ladies in White have remained resolute in their struggle. Soler is being honored with this award for the courage she displays, like that of the women in the Battle of Crete, to further human rights and political freedom in Cuba.