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December 5th, 2008

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New era in Czech-Cuban relations

Officials and Cuban émigrés look to the post-Fidel period

By Markéta Hulpachová
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
March 12th, 2008 issue

ISIFA

Supporters of Fidel Castro shove dissident Carlos Ríos, center, during a march in Havana Dec. 10, 2006. enlarge

In the aftermath of ailing dictator Fidel Castro’s recent decision to conclude his 49-year-long rule, the eyes of the international community remain transfixed on Cuba. Now that the country’s reins are in the hands of Fidel’s brother — former Defense Minister Raúl Castro — pundits worldwide are debating the possibility of a fundamental transformation in the communist nation’s government and economy.

Having a close relationship with Cuba that transcends decades of political turbulence on both sides of the Atlantic, the Czech Republic is among the countries spearheading the discourse regarding Cuba’s future following Fidel Castro’s resignation. As one of the European Union’s sharpest critics of the totalitarian regime in Cuba, the Czech government views the conclusion of Fidel Castro’s reign as a positive development.

In a Feb. 18 statement, the Foreign Affairs Ministry expressed hope that this development would steer Cuba toward political and economic reforms that would “lead this beautiful country out of the freeze-up of the past years,” and urged the new Cuban leadership to reject the repressive tactics that characterized Fidel Castro’s reign. According to the ministry statement, “future development should be aimed toward the liberation of all political prisoners, initiating a dialogue with the political opposition and holding a free election.”

Although ambitious in its recommendations, the Foreign Affairs Ministry’s views echo the international community’s skepticism toward Cuba’s new leadership.

“There is a whole club of young [communists] under Raúl Castro,” Foreign Affairs Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said in a Feb. 21 interview on his party’s Web site. “These people are between 25 and 40 years old, and they are just now getting to power. If a whole generation leaves with the old master, they have an immense opportunity to take its place.”

With its pro-communist stance, Schwarzenberg believes Cuba’s new generation of leaders is unlikely to sanction any reforms outside the economic sphere. Like dozens of Czech politicians supporting Cuban dissent, Schwarzenberg himself has a strained relationship with the country’s leadership. While visiting Havana as a senator in 2005 to speak at a pro-democracy conference, he was seized by police and expelled from the country.

Despite this experience, he warns against taking drastic measures, such as trade embargoes, against the Cuban government. “I don’t share the opinion of the United States,” he said. “I think economic sanctions are stupid — they don’t lead to any resolution. Of course, we should block the shipment of military material, but regular trade should function normally.”

Dissident views

Despite their reservations about the country’s emergent leadership, Cuban dissidents are calling Fidel Castro’s abdication a step toward democracy.

Speaking at a March 5 international human rights forum at the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Prague, dissident Osvaldo Alfonso Valdés described the volatile atmosphere in his homeland. “The fact that Fidel is gone is in itself great news for all Cubans,” he said. “Politicians know well that after 50 years of totalitarian rule, our society is exhausted — people are less and less willing to live under this regime.”

As the founder of a pro-democratic Cuban opposition party, Valdés was imprisoned during the 2003 “Black Cuban Spring,” when 75 dissidents were arrested during a government crackdown against the opposition.

While necessary for the resuscitation of Cuba’s plummeting economy, Valdes warned that Raúl Castro’s acts of appeasement — such as the Feb. 29 signing of two international human rights treaties — will only perpetuate totalitarian rule in the country. “Politicians will implement cosmetic changes to numb international criticism,” he said. “We are not satisfied, because communism must be stopped. Without that, progress will not be reached.”

Close ties

The Czech government’s reputation as an avid supporter of Cuban dissent can be traced to a single persona: former President Václav Havel. Since 1990, Havel, himself a former dissident during the Czechoslovak communist regime, has helped bring the Cuban human rights issue to the attention of the international community through prestigious conferences and organizations such as the International Committee for Democracy in Cuba (ICDC), a Prague-based think tank co-founded by Havel and former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

While applauding the end of the Fidel Castro era, Havel and his colleagues — former Spanish President José Maria Aznar and Cuban dissident Carlos Alberto Montaner — continue to criticize the country’s regime.

“Sadly, Fidel’s abdication has not been meant to give way to a pluralistic democracy, like the one the Cuban people deserve and which is enjoyed by the most stable and prosperous nations in the world, but to perpetuate tyranny on the island,” they wrote in a joint Feb. 26 statement.

However, not all local politicians share Havel’s opinion of the Cuban government. During the Cold War, the Czechoslovak government formed close ties with Castro’s regime, supplying the country with arms, skilled labor and other exports — a fact that the members of the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM) have not forgotten.

On March 3, the party published on its Web site a statement by Zdeněk Kvita, a member of the Czech-Cuban Friendship Association, which criticized Schwarzenberg for associating with Cuban dissidents whose activities were allegedly funded by the United States. By supporting these subversive activities, Schwarzenberg is essentially helping the United States realize its long-term agenda to overthrow the communist regime in Cuba, Kvita wrote.

Another supporter of Fidel Castro, European Parliament MP and KSČM member Věra Flasarová, lauded the social benefits enjoyed by the Cuban people during his dictatorship. “The respect Fidel Castro commands among Cubans is … something local politicians could only envy,” she wrote upon her return from a February left-wing delegation to the country.

The viewpoints of the taciturn members of Prague’s Cuban émigré community fall somewhere in between the human rights advocacy of the Havel camp and the pro-Castro sentiments of the Communist Party. “I am glad for the Czech support — it’s something that the dissidents and people of Cuba need,” said a local Cuban businessman who wished to remain anonymous. “On the other hand, I am careful. After 1989, things started to get a bit too pro-American here. [But] even Cuban dissidents are not pro-American. They’re against Castro, but they do not want Cuba to become another star on the American flag.”

Markéta Hulpachová can be reached at mhulpachova@praguepost.com

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