|
Politicians, actors support
Cuban dissidents in prison cell
Prague
Monitor, March
17, 2006.
Prague, March 17 (CTK) - Politicians from
both the government and opposition parties
have made themselves closed in a symbolical
prison at Prague's Wenceslas Square in support
of Cuban dissidents today.
They supported a campaign by the group
People in Need which will highlight the
third anniversary of political repressions
in Cuba. In March 2003, 75 representatives
of Cuban opposition were arrested.
A part of the sentence for Cuban dissidents
has been "served" by Foreign Minister
Cyril Svoboda (the Christian Democrats,
KDU-CSL), Mirek Topolanek, the chairman
of the opposition Civic Democratic Party
(ODS), Alexandr Vondra, a former diplomat
and ambassador to the US, and film directors
Vaclav Marhoul and Otakaro Schmidt.
The campaign was watched by about 30 people
who could sign an open letter to Cuban leader
Fidel Castro.
In it, the activists ask for the release
of the opponents of the regime who are often
in a bad health condition.
Jiri Knitl from the People in Need said
that there were about 300 political prisoners
in Cuba now.
"We are interested in good relations,
but the problem exists from the other side,"
Svoboda told CTK.
Svoboda said that after the recent Hurricane
Vilma, which afflicted the island, the Czech
Republic offered aid to Cuba, but the local
government refused it.
"We are ready to help at any time,
but we will always highlight the state of
human rights, as this is a crucial question
for us," Svoboda said.
Svoboda's position was supported by Topolanek.
"Svoboda can be credited with our
not straying from our original, tough position,"
Topolanek said.
The international community must exert
a greater pressure on Castro's regime.
The Cuban question is among the priorities
of the ODS's foreign policy, Topolanek said,
adding that when travelling to the US, he
regularly met representatives of the Cuban
opposition.
On Saturday, a march reminding the marches
of the "Ladies in White" in Havana
will go from the prison cell at the Wenceslas
Square. "Ladies in White" is a
movement of dissidents' wives who protest
against the imprisonment of their husbands
in Cuba.
Czech-Cuban bilateral relations have been
frozen since the fall of communism in then
Czechoslovakia in 1989. The reason is the
Czech criticism of the ruling political
regime in Cuba. The Czech Republic has tried
several times to push through the U.N. resolutions
criticising the state of human rights in
Cuba.
The Czech Republic ranks among the sharpest
critics of Castro's regime in the European
Union.
In January, the Cuban police detained Czech
model Helena Houdova and psychologist Mariana
Kroftova when photographing a slum in Havana.
They spent eleven hours in a prison cell.
This story copyright 2005
CTK Czech News Agency.
| 
