By Jim Burns. CNS Senior Staff Writer.
CNS News March 15, 2001
(CNSNews.com) - Two Czechoslovakian politicians who were arrested and jailed
in Cuba two months ago were honored as emissaries of freedom at a reception in
Washington Wednesday night.
Ivan Pilip, a former Czech finance minister who is now a member of the Czech
parliament, and Jan Bubenik, a former Czech student leader, were arrested in the
Cuban province of Ciego de Avila in January, shortly after arriving in Cuba on
tourist visas.
The Castro government insisted their visit had nothing to do with tourism: "The
real aims were to contact counter-revolutionary elements, give them instructions
and hand them resources," the communist government said after arresting the
men.
The Cuban government released Pilip and Bubenik in February, after
threatening to try them for inciting subversion. They never went to trial,
however.
At the Capitol Hill reception, the Czechs were hailed for their courage by
the New York- based human rights group Freedom House and by House International
Relations Committee Chairman Henry Hyde (R-Ill.).
"Free people around the world," Hyde said, "must heed the
example set by these two emissaries of freedom from the Czech republic. We must
resolve not to yield to bullying and intimidation. We must resolve to reach out
our hand in friendship to help brave Cubans who are keeping liberty alive in
Castro's Cuba today.
"If the phrase 'we shall overcome' has any meaning, it certainly
applies to Cuba," he said.
Pilip told the crowd, "We are very glad that our case was solved in the
way it was. But, we worry much about the people who still have to live in Cuba.
We think that it's very important to continue every effort to change the
situation there. It's necessary to strengthen the international pressure against
the regime of Fidel Castro in order to bring some changes to the island."
Hyde said the arrests show that "in Castro's Cuba, prison walls still
exist around the entire island," as Cuba "suffers under the last
vestiges of Stalinism."
But, said Hyde, there is hope. "There are many brave souls who insist
upon being free."
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), herself a Cuban exile, praised the Czechs
for daring to meet with dissidents to show the rest of the world that there is
internal opposition to the Castro regime. She said the Czechs' subsequent arrest
sends a "powerful message" that the United Nations Human Rights
Commission, meeting next week in Geneva, should retain language supporting the
U.S. economic embargo against Cuba.
"You know, the international community wants to hide [Cuban repression]
from the rest of the world. They want to have everybody think that Castro is
beloved leader and the president of Cuba when, in fact, he is a despotic
dictator who ruthlessly violates human rights, each and every day, and who
cracks down on anything he cannot control," Ros-Lehtinen said.
Rep. Ros-Lehtinen said the fact that Cuba detained the Czechs is proof of
Cuba's multiple human rights violations. She urged the Czech Republic to assist
the United States in passing a resolution that expressly criticizes Cuba's human
rights record.
"Fidel Castro is a despotic leader. He's a human rights violator and he
must be rewarded with the title of human rights violator," said
Ros-Lehtinen.
The Czech Republic has vowed to keep the economic embargo against Cuba in
that U.N. resolution. Many other nations support relaxing the embargo.
The Castro government has described Pilip and Bubenik as "two agents at
the service of the United States." It accused them of taking orders from "U.S.-based
anti-Castro groups to maintain subversive contacts from members of little
counter-revolutionary groups" in the Cuban province of Ciego de Avila.
The Czechs reportedly met with anti-Castro activists Antonio Femenias, a
dissident journalist, and Robert Valdivia, a human rights activist. | 