Czech Envoy Meets with Fidel 

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Saturday February 3 4:15 PM ET

Czech Official Meets Castro Over Cuba Detainees 

By Pascal Fletcher

HAVANA (Reuters) - A senior Czech official met Cuban President Fidel Castro
on Saturday in a bid to seek the freedom of two prominent compatriots
arrested after meeting anti-Castro dissidents on the island, diplomatic
sources said.

The meeting between Czech Senate President Petr Pithart and Castro took
place hours after the Cuban leader insisted in a speech that Cuba wanted an
apology over the case of the two detained Czechs who are accused of
"subversive contacts" with opposition activists.

"We are telling the truth and we have proof," Castro said on Friday night in
his first public comments on an incident which has badly soured already
strained ties between erstwhile Socialist-era allies Havana and Prague.

Pithart has been in communist-ruled Cuba since Monday on a mission to seek
the release of former Czech Finance Minister Ivan Pilip and ex-student
leader Jan Bubenik who were arrested on Jan. 12 in central Ciego de Avila
province.

Pilip's wife, Lucie Pilipova, told Reuters she had visited her husband on
Saturday at the Villa Marista state security headquarters in Havana where he
and Bubenik are being held.

"We are waiting to see what happens," she said.

Pithart was due to leave Havana later on Saturday on a flight either to
London or Paris. He had delayed his scheduled departure from Havana from
Thursday at the personal request of Castro -- a move that had raised hopes
of a breakthrough.

Pilipova said a Cuban defense lawyer had also met her husband to discuss the
Cuban case against him.

Havana has accused the Czechs of being "agents" of U.S. interests, and of
following the directives of the U.S.-based Freedom House organization --
known for its opposition to Castro -- in meeting and seeking to help local
dissidents.

Serious Violation Of Law

During a six-hour speech Friday night, Castro defended his country's
"dignified and honorable position" over the two Czechs, whom he said were
detained after being caught trying to promote "subversion and
destabilization."

This constituted "serious violations of our laws," Castro said. "Let the
reality be admitted with our proofs, and let there be an apology made to our
country," Castro added.

"There has to be an apology," he went on, reinforcing an earlier Cuban call
for an "honorable solution" to the diplomatic deadlock in a case that has
drawn stern protests from Prague, Washington and the European Union.

Czech President Vaclav Havel -- himself a former anti-communist dissident --
and other Czech leaders have so far ruled out an apology and have condemned
the arrests as a human rights abuse.

Pilipova said she understood the Cuban side was revising the accusations
against her husband.

Instead of being accused of state security offenses listed in the penal
code, Pilip and Bubenik could now face charges under a 1999 Law 88 For the
Protection of National Independence and the Economy of Cuba, she added.

This law sought to prevent individuals from aiding hostile U.S. legislation
against Cuba by engaging in acts aimed at destabilizing Cuba's one-party
socialist system.

Castro did not mention any detailed charges in his speech but he insisted
Cuba could clearly prove wrongdoing by the pair and wanted an apology.

Pithart was in Cuba on Castro's personal invitation after writing a letter
requesting the pair's release, and assuring the Cuban leader they were not
working for the United States.

Pilip and Bubenik were arrested after meeting dissident journalist Antonio
Femenias and rights activist Roberto Valdivia. Havana regards all dissidents
as U.S.-backed counter-revolutionaries, and outlaws all overt opposition
activism.

 
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