Yahoo! February 12, 2001
Czech: Cuban U.S. enmity was key
By Nadia Rybarova, Associated Press Writer.
PRAGUE, Czech Republic 9 (AP) - Cuba's enmity toward the United States
played a key role in the 25-day detention of two Czech officials, arrested while
visiting dissidents there, one of them said Friday.
"All questions during the interrogations were aimed at the role of the
United States in our trip,'' Ivan Pilip, a lawmaker and former Czech Finance
Minister, told The Associated Press.
Pilip and former student leader Jan Bubenik were arrested Jan. 12 after
meeting with two dissidents in the central Cuban town of Ciego de Avila.
President Vaclav Havel and leaders of the Inter-Parliamentary Union
intervened with Cuban authorities to win freedom of the two men.
They were released on Feb. 5 after they signed a statement in which they
apologized for having unwittingly violated the law and returned to Prague the
following day.
The pair met with the Cuban regime opponents on behalf of Freedom House, a
civil rights group that receives money from both the U.S. government and private
sources.
Because they were acting in the name of Freedom House, Pilip said, he and
his friend knew they could be detained, but hoped for a quick release.
But he insisted that that "the American-Cuban aspect played an
extremely important role.'' He added that Czech citizenship only added to the
troubles of the pair, as "Czechs are considered close allies of the United
States in Cuba.''
Originally, Pilip and Bubenik were charged with acting against Cuban
security and inciting a rebellion. Later that was changed to "cooperation
with Americans,'' Pilip explained, saying that was according to a law adopted in
Cuba in reaction to the Helms-Burton law, a U.S. measure designed to discourage
foreign investment in Cuba.
Fire guts AP bureau in Havana
Associated Press. February 11, 2001
HAVANA (AP) -- The Associated Press' bureau here was gutted Sunday in a
blaze that officials described as an electrical fire.
The fire began Sunday afternoon, and was quickly brought under control.
Havana bureau chief Anita Snow said the office was closed at the time of the
fire, and there were no injuries.
The bureau was located on the sixth floor of a renovated office building in
the Old Havana neighborhood.
The AP reopened its bureau in Havana in early 1999. The Cuban government had
forced the news gathering cooperative to close its previous bureau in 1969,
expelling its last permanent correspondent.
"We're tremendously relieved that no one was injured," said AP
Executive Editor Jonathan Wolman. "Our staff was quick to say they will be
able to continue their coverage in Havana even as we make plans to rebuild the
AP office."
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