Cuba - Human Rights & Peace Activist Laura Poll?n died of "unknown" ARDS virus last week - government says virus is RSV, bacterial co-infection

[sharon sanders]

Damas de Blanco (Ladies in White) leader Laura Poll?n

Published October 11, 2011
TRACEY EATON

Before falling ill last week, Las Damas de Blanco (Ladies in White) leader Laura Poll?n vowed not to give up her fight for peaceful democratic change in Cuba.
In an interview with Pulitzer grantee Tracey Eaton, Poll?n said:
"As long as there are political prisoners, there will be Damas de Blanco fighting for their freedom."
She said her campaign to bring peaceful democratic change to Cuba had taken a toll, but she vowed not to give up.

snip

Fellow members of Las Damas de Blanco marched Sunday along Quinta Avenida in Havana and prayed for the dissident leader, CubaEncuentro reported Oct. 9. The website said Poll?n was in intensive care with acute respiratory problems caused by an as-yet-unknown virus. Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez said there has been an outpouring of support for Poll?n. She wrote:
"The great number of friends and onlookers who have gathered outside the Calixto Garcia Hospital emergency room where she was admitted for acute respiratory distress is comforting. Considering all the insults, curses, and lies that have been launched against this woman on the official television, the reactions of so many Cubans in solidarity with her is a revelation."

http://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/cuba-laura-pollán-democracy-freedom

 

[Shiloh]

Re: Cuba - Human Rights & Peace Activist Laura Poll?n died of "unknown" ARDS virus last week

Re: Cuba - Human Rights & Peace Activist Laura Poll?n died of "unknown" ARDS virus last week

Source: http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=435385&CategoryId=14510

Virus Involved in Cuban Dissident?s Death Is Spreading
October 26,2011

...?At the moment the flu viruses that are spreading are the H3N2 that chiefly affects the adult population, and respiratory syncytial virus that affects children of less that a year old, causing bronchial complaints in some babies,? the official daily Granma said Saturday in an article about seasonal flu...

...Last Oct. 14 the leader of the Ladies in White dissident group, Laura Pollan, 63, died after suffering respiratory failure and diabetic decompensation combined with respiratory syncytial virus, a type of dengue and her chronic diabetes, members of her family said at the time.

An official government ?blog? mentioned Pollan?s death, citing the head of the intensive care unit where the dissident was hospitalized for a week, saying that the diagnosis was ?pneumonia from respiratory syncytial virus, a bacterial respiratory infection and acute respiratory failure.?

This past week, dissidents have expressed their doubts and suspicions about Laura Pollan?s death, among them her companion and Ladies in White spokeswoman Berta Soler...