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Politicians support Cuba protests

But analysts say officials seemingly turn a blind eye toward globe's other regimes

A well-guarded Senator Daniel Kroupa, left, was jailed in a cell on Wenceslas Square in a protest of Cuba's human rights policies.
By Frantisek Bouc
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
(March 25, 2004)


There is nothing like a little street theater to make a point.

That is what some high-profile protesters against Cuba's human rights policies decided when they erected a mock prison cell on Prague's Wenceslas Square -- and then went directly to jail.

Sort of.

Prague Mayor Pavel Bem opened a four-day campaign March 15 commemorating the anniversary of last year's imprisonment of 75 political prisoners in Cuba by pronouncing a mock sentence on 75 Czech political and cultural personalities.

He sentenced Simon Panek, director of the People in Need humanitarian organization and 74 other volunteers to an hour's imprisonment.

"We would like to send a signal primarily to Cuba, to those people who are trying to do something against Castro, to let them know that they are not alone, that someone is thinking of them, that we are not indifferent," Panek told news agency CTK.

Last year, People in Need arranged an aid program for real Cuban prisoners and their family members. Each month the group sends financial and material aid.

The cell on Wenceslas Square, which at about 8 square meters (86 square feet) was twice as large as a typical prison cell in Cuba, held a chair, a table and a blanket.

Among those serving one-hour sentences were volunteers recruited from human rights circles, celebrities and leading politicians.

Senate Chairman Petr Pithart spent an hour in the cell dressed in a striped prison uniform. Pithart said he wanted to point at the cruel practices of Cuban President Fidel Castro's regime.

"I know the atmosphere of the Cuban secret-police investigation rooms. ... Those 75 prisoners have undoubtedly passed through them as well," Pithart said.

In January 2001 Pithart made a trip to Cuba to force Castro to release two Czech citizens, Jan Bubenik and former Freedom Union Deputy Ivan Pilip, who were detained for almost a month for alleged partisan activities against the Castro regime.

Pilip was invited to spend an hour in the Wenceslas Square prison, but he rejected the invitation.

"I did support the campaign, but I didn't write my name on any paper," Pilip said. "Actually, I already served a real Cuban imprisonment and so I did not need to fake it."


Lackey and toady

After overthrowing communism in 1989, the Czech Republic joined the appeals against the Castro regime in the mid-'90s. Czech officials initiated resolutions condemning human rights abuse in Cuba in three conferences of the UN Commission for Human Rights in 1999, 2000 and 2001. In the most recent conference in Geneva, Switzerland, March 17, Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque denounced the Czech Republic as a "despicable lackey of the United States and Washington's toady."
THE CUBAN CONNECTION


• 1999-2001: The Czech Republic initiates resolutions condemning human rights abuse in Cuba in three conferences of the UN Commission for Human Rights

• January 2001: Czech citizens Jan Bubenik and former Freedom Union Deputy Ivan Pilip detained in Havana and kept in prison for almost a month for alleged partisan activities against the Castro regime.

• March 15-19, 2004: People in Need humanitarian organization commemorates the imprisonment of 75 political prisoners in Cuba by building a mock cell on Wenceslas Square.

• March 17, 2004: Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque denounces the Czech Republic as a "despicable lackey of the United States and Washington's toady" at the UN Commission for Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland.

Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda told The Prague Post that the Czech Republic was determined to spotlight any nondemocratic regime anywhere in the world.

"The Czech Republic will always fight against suppressing democracies, be it in Cuba or Burma [Myanmar]," Svoboda said. "From our own experience, we remember quite well that dissidents were always strengthened when the former communist regime in Czechoslovakia received international criticism."

A number of political analysts, however, have raised their eyebrows at the Czech Republic's seemingly heavy focus on Cuba. The Castro regime is just one of many nondemocratic governments worldwide and the Czech state does not have a consistent approach toward them, some analysts say.

"It's hypocrisy to criticize Cuba and to your close eyes in front of other even worse regimes," said political analyst Jiri Pehe, who heads New York University in Prague.

Pehe said the issue of consistency in Czech foreign policy came to the foreground after leading government representatives welcomed North Korean Parliament Chairman Che Te-bok during his visit to the Czech Republic March 11.

"It's not very comprehensive to protest against Cuba just days after welcoming a leading representative of what is perhaps the worst regime in the world," Pehe said.

Svoboda, who also met with Che Te-bok, argued that the Czech foreign policy was balanced in treating controversial regimes worldwide.

"There's nothing bad about meeting with representatives of any regimes and confronting them with our standpoints," Svoboda said. "We need to meet them and speak, not to meet them and remain silent."

Frantisek Bouc can be reached at fbouc@praguepost.com




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