[1] In 1997, Roque, Vladimiro Roca, Felix Bonne and Rene Gomez Manzano published a paper titled "The Homeland Belongs to All," which discussed Cuba's human rights situation and called for political and economic reforms.

[5] In May 1998, Roque smuggled a letter out of the prison written on toilet paper, telling foreign journalists that the four were suffering from poor medical care and political indoctrination.

[8] Roque was sentenced to three-and-a-half years' imprisonment, but won the right to appeal her case after staging a hunger strike in June 1999.

In November 2000, the four published another essay, titled "Social Facets", as President Fidel Castro attended a summit in Panama.

[9] In March 2003, she and other dissidents lobbied the EU not to sign a trade agreement with Cuba until its human rights record improved.

Amnesty International adopted her as a prisoner of conscience,[14] and Roque's sister Isabel was invited to meet with U.S. President George W. Bush in Washington, D.C. to discuss the case.

Varela Project organizer Oswaldo Payá feuded with Roque over the group's formation, accusing her of collaborating with security forces to justify a further crackdown.

She is a recipient of the 2002 Heinz R. Pagels Human Rights of Scientists Award of the New York Academy of Sciences[20] and an honorary member of the Canadian, English, and Finnish PEN.