Members of the Women in White movement marched through the streets of Havana on 18 February and handed in a petition with 1,048 signatures of wives and close relatives of detained dissidents to the council of state and ministers calling for an amnesty. Officials received two of the marchers, one of whom was Laura Pollán, the wife of imprisoned journalist Héctor Maseda.

Detained since April 2003 and serving a 20-year prison sentence, Maseda was moved on 26 January from La Pendiente prison in Santa Clara (100 km east of Havana) to another prison in same city called La Pre where he has been placed in solitary confinement. In two recent letters to his wife, he described the harsh conditions in the high-security wing where he is being held.

Pollán told the Miami-based news agency Cubanet: "These extreme measures have been taken against my husband because he does not submit as a political prisoner and refuses to accept full reeducation. In protest against the manoeuvres of the political police, he has waived his right to everything, including food rations and visits. His transfer to a high-security wing came after I approached officials in the council of state and interior ministry to complain about the abusive treatment he has been receiving, in particular, the fact that he and another prisoner were the only ones to be forced to undress in front of the other detainees during an inspection."

In his first letter to Pollán, on 29 January, Maseda said he had asked the authorities for a transfer to Havana. In his second letter, on 14 February, he reported that he had been moved to a different cell, which he was sharing with another inmate, but he was still in the high-security wing.