Yahoo! January 29, 2001
US Dimisses Cuban Claims on Czechs
By George Gedda, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - The State Department rejected claims by Cuba that two
pro-democracy activists from the Czech Republic were engaging in subversive
activities when they met with Cuban dissidents early this month.
Cuba arrested the two on Jan. 12 and, in the face of international protests,
issued a statement on Wednesday to some embassies in Havana outlining its
position. One of the Czechs is a former finance minister.
The eight-page Cuban statement said the two, Ivan Pilip and Jan Bubenik, met
with representatives of Freedom House, a New York-based human rights group,
before traveling to Havana on Jan. 8. Days later, they traveled to Ciego de
Avila province in central Cuba, where they met with two known "counterrevolutionaries,''
the statement said.
It said the encounter was part of a cooperative effort between Freedom House
and the U.S. government to promote "internal subversion'' on the island.
Calling the Cuban allegations "ludicrous,'' State Department spokesman
Richard Boucher said Friday that "meeting with peaceful political activists
and carrying a list of activists' names is not considered a crime in most
countries of the world.''
He said Cuba's continued detention of the two Czechs "provides graphic
proof of why it is important to continue to focus international attention on
human rights in Cuba, and we echo the Czech government's call for their
release.''
Pilip, 37, is a deputy in the Czech parliament's lower house and a former
finance minister. Bubenik, 32, was a student leader in the 1989 overthrow of the
Communist government in Prague.
Cuba alleged that Freedom House provided the Czechs with a portable
computer, diskettes and CD-ROMs. The statement said the Czechs were instructed
by Freedom House to deliver these items to the Cuban dissidents with whom they
were to meet. It added that the two were given $1,400 in spending money.
Adrian Karatnycky, president of Freedom House, declined to comment in a
telephone interview on whether the group had maintained contact with the Pilip
and Bubenik. But he acknowledged that Freedom House seeks to make contact
between pro-democracy activists from around the world and their counterparts in
Cuba.
"We find it amazing that the Cuban government would criminalize the
idea of people traveling to Cuba with a Palm Pilot or a laptop as part of their
gear, and we believe that the detentions of these eminent Czech citizens are
without foundation and violate basic international human rights principles,''
Karatnycky said.
He added: "Freedom House does not engage in subversive activities. We
do not engage in espionage. We are a nongovernment organization accredited at
the United Nations (news - web sites) with a 60-year history of highly public
and transparent activity.''
The Cuban statement said the mission of Pilip and Bubenik was one more
example of the "interventionist and destabilizing activities'' that the
Czech Republic has carried in Cuba.
It said the Czech mission in Havana for the past 10 years has been following
instructions from U.S. intelligence agencies and other U.S. organs.
On the Net:
Freedom House:
http://www.freedomhouse.org
Castro Says He'll Keep Eye on Bush
By Anita Snow, Associated Press Writer
HAVANA (AP) - Fidel Castro (news - web sites) said Saturday that his
government will keep a close eye on the new Bush administration, insisting that
he will not judge it beforehand but noting that millions of Cubans are trained
to handle firearms.
"A new administration of a very irregular form has just been installed
in the United States,'' Castro told more than 200,000 people gathered in San
Jose de Las Lajas, about 30 miles southeast of the capital.
"We are not in a hurry to judge it beforehand ... We will not throw the
first stone,'' Castro said during his half-hour speech, televised live on state
television. But, he said, "we will carefully watch every step it makes and
every word it pronounces.''
"Absolutely nothing will take us by surprise,'' Castro added.
Castro noted that "the Cuba of today is not the Cuba of 1959'' - the
year of the revolution triumphed.
Then, he said, Cuban citizens were unarmed and practically illiterate. Now, "there
is not a single illiterate person'' on the island, the Cuban leader declared. "Millions
of men and women have learned how to handle weapons.''
He said his government would continue the "battle of ideas'' launched
14 months ago against U.S. policies toward Cuba, referring to mass rallies held
regularly on Saturdays in different parts of the island.
Last weekend, Castro made his first public comments about Bush after the
Jan. 20 inauguration, saying he hoped his new adversary in the White House - the
10th American president to serve since Castro came to power - is "not as
stupid as he seems.''
The White House declined to comment on most of the earlier remarks.
Bush has expressed support for the four-decade American trade embargo on
Cuba. He has said he envisions no change in U.S. policy toward the communist
island unless free elections are held and political prisoners are freed.
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