CNN. March 27, 2000.. Web posted at: 8:58 AM EST (1358 GMT)
PRAGUE, Czech Republic (Reuters) -- The Czech Republic defended on Monday a move to censure its one-time ally Cuba for human rights violations at a United Nations forum.
On Sunday Cuban leader Fidel Castro said his government could end relations with Prague if it tabled a resolution criticizing Cuba at the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva.
But in a statement on Monday the Czech Foreign Ministry defended its intention to seek censure of the Caribbean island nation after Havana failed to heed a call by the U.N. to release political prisoners last year.
"The situation...has not improved. On the contrary, during 1999, demands to free political prisoners from jail were not fulfilled and the number tried and convicted for political reasons rose," the ministry said.
"The Czech Republic's actions...are not led by animosity toward the Cuban people. On the contrary, it considers the resolution to be an offer of dialogue with Cuban authorities which could lead to the improvement of human rights in Cuba."
The ministry added the resolution was being prepared jointly with Poland.
Cuba considers opponents of the government as counter-revolutionaries backed by the United States and jails them under laws that effectively outlaw active political opposition outside the ruling Communist Party, headed by Castro.
During a five-hour speech to university students on Sunday, Castro lambasted the Czech call for censure and accused Prague of acting as a puppet of the United States.
Since communist rule ended in then Czechoslovakia in the 1989 bloodless "Velvet Revolution," the Czech Republic and Cuba have clashed publicly several times over human rights.
© 2000 Cable News Network. All Rights Reserved. |