Prague- The European Union repeatedly applies a strange diplomatic
caution towards the Communist Cuba, former Czech president Vaclav Havel
said at an international conference of pro-democratoc activists.
He said that, for example, EU countries say that Cuban dissidents should
not be invited to the celebrations of national holidays at their
embassies in Havana.
Havel said that the EU might take an "appeasement" stand on Cuba, and
that the current conference should tell the EU that this is not the
right path to follow.
Havel said that democratic countries take a cautious stand because they
are not sure whether they can rely on dissidents, whether some of them
do not cooperate with the local police.
He said that in spite of this risk, it pays to support the dissidents.
In the opposite case, it could happen that the overall situation in the
world would worsen and that billions would have to be invested in
defence systems.
Havel has focused on human rights observance in Cuba for a long time.
He said at a meeting of the International Committee for Democracy in
Cuba (ICDC) in Berlin in April that "Europe should catch up with the
United States in its effort at human rights as well," in an allusion to
the EU's effort to compete with the United States in the economy.
The ICDC was established on Havel's initiative four years ago as an
association of politicians and intellectuals.
Author: ČTK
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