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Top model to exhibit photos
of Cuba she hid in bra during arrest
Prague
Daily Monitor,
Jan 30 2006.
PRAGUE, Jan 30 (CTK) - Czech top model
Helena Houdova, who was arrested in Cuba
last week while taking photographs of Havana's
slums, told journalistS today that she will
display the pictures she took at an exhibition
portraying the island not only as a tourist
paradise but also as a land of political
oppression.
Houdova, Miss Czech Republic 1999, spoke
to journalists today after returning from
Cuba.
"The revolution's watchmen rose up
because I was taking pictures of something
they do not like," said the top model,
referring to the fact that the Communist
regime of Fidel Castro denies the existence
of slums on the island.
Houdova was arrested along with psychologist
and fellow model Mariana Kroftova. The two
women spent 11 hours in police custody.
They were not allowed to contact the Czech
embassy throughout their arrest and could
not communicate with their jailers in English.
They in vain requested medical attention.
Upon their release, the women were requested
to sign a statement saying they would not
travel beyond Havana. They remained under
police surveillance until their departure
from the island.
The women received the support of locals,
as well as of Czech embassy employees.
The Cuban police confiscated the roll of
film that was in the Czech women's camera.
However, Houdova managed to conceal the
memory card of her digital camera inside
her brassiere.
The pictures she thus saved will be included
in an exhibition Houdova plans to organise
together with People in Need (PINF), a Czech
non-governmental humanitarian relief organisation
with a track record of supporting Cuba's
pro-democracy opposition.
Houdova said the exhibition should portray
Cuba not only as a country with beautiful
nature, interesting architecture and a captivating
atmosphere but also as a state where people
are imprisoned for their beliefs.
Houdova said her meetings with dissidents,
the wives of political prisoners, as well
as with ordinary Cubans during her ten-day
stay in Cuba made her recollect her childhood
in Communist Czechoslovakia.
"I am not an expert on the political
situation in Cuba but I think some kind
of change is necessary there," she
said.
Houdova went to Cuba to find out whether
her Sunflower foundation could assist the
local children - orphans, the handicapped
or those afflicted with AIDS. She pointed
out that it is almost impossible to provide
any assistance through official means because
the Communist authorities refuse to admit
anything in their country does not work.
However, Houdova personally ascertained
the pathetic situation in several Cuban
hospitals.
Although Houdova admitted she cannot predict
how long Fidel Castro will manage to maintain
his totalitarian regime on the island, she
said she believes Cubans will soon live
to experience liberty as have Czechs.
For the past two years, Houdova has been
living mostly in New York and Los Angeles
where she works as a model. At the same
time, she tries to raise funds to help physically
or socially handicapped children in different
countries around the world.
The Czech Foreign Ministry has summoned
the Cuban charge d'affairs in Prague to
explain the conduct of the Cuban authorities
in arresting the two Czech women.
The case provides additional evidence of
the frosty nature of official Czech-Cuban
political relations. Cuban officials have
in the past described the Czech Republic
as a lackey of the United States.
copyright 2005 CTK Czech
News Agency.
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