VZCZCXYZ0001
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHPG #0358 0941346
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 041346Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY PRAGUE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8844
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO 0103
RUEHUB/USINT HAVANA 0091

UNCLAS PRAGUE 000358 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
EUR/NCE FOR ERIC FICHTE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL KDEM CU EZ
SUBJECT: CZECH REPUBLIC: CUBA ROUND-UP 
 
REF: A. 06 PRAGUE 0066 
     ¶B. 06 PRAGUE 0085 
     ¶C. PRAGUE 350 
     ¶D. PRAGUE 351 
 
¶1. (U) The following is a summary of Czech MFA and NGO 
activities focused on promoting human rights and democracy in 
Cuba. 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
ICDC Conference on Cuba in Berlin April 24-26 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg will 
speak at the International Committee for Democracy in Cuba 
(ICDC) Conference in Berlin on April 26. (ICDC is a Czech NGO 
founded by former Czech President Vaclav Havel.) The goal of 
the conference is to inspire the Germany presidency to focus 
on Cuba, and more generally, to build support within the EU 
for a mid-term policy on Cuba. The conference has attracted 
official speakers from Germany, other EU member states, and 
the United States. Former President Havel, other former world 
leaders (such as former President of Poland Aleksandr 
Kwasniewski, former President of Chili Ricardo Lagos, former 
President of Albania Rexhep Meidani, and former Prime 
Minister of Estonia Mart Laar), and Cuban democracy advocates 
will also speak. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
MFA Transition Cooperation Unit Funds New Cuba Projects 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) MFA Director of the Transformation Cooperation Unit 
(TRANS) Gabriela Dlouha said funding for Czech NGOs working 
to promote democracy and human rights in Cuba will slightly 
increase in 2007, and continue to increase annually though 
¶2009. 
 
¶4. (SBU) In addition to providing traditional support for the 
democratic opposition (ref A), TRANS is also seeking ways to 
reach out to ordinary Cubans. For example, this year TRANS 
will fund a film project in Cuba similar to a successful film 
project TRANS funded in Burma in 2005 (ref B). In the case of 
the Burma project, the GOB officially authorized a Czech 
filmmaker to conduct a documentary-making seminar in Burma 
with a small group of young Burmese. The participants 
produced documentaries on apolitical topics, and in the 
process learned about the art and philosophy of documentary 
films. The participants were permitted to keep their cameras 
and equipment at the conclusion of the project. At the time, 
Dlouha said she hoped that small, untraditional projects like 
this would serve as a catalyst to encourage self-expression, 
journalism, and possibly change, in oppressed countries. 
 
¶5. (SBU) If supplemental funds become available, TRANS plans 
to fund additional projects in Cuba focused on humanitarian 
assistance. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
PIN & Czech Politicians Protest Cuban Human Rights Abuses 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
 
¶6. (U) Czech NGO People in Need (PIN) hosted its fourth 
annual protest against the Castro regime. Each year, PIN 
places a symbolic jail cell in Wenceslas Square on the 
anniversary of Castro's crackdown on Cuban dissidents in 
March 2003. Czech Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr (Sasha) 
Vondra and other prominent figures wore striped prison 
clothes and called for the release of all political prisoners 
in Cuba. Later, PIN staged a march in support of the Women in 
White, the wives and mothers of jailed political prisoners. 
 
For photographs, see www.clovekvtisni.cz/index2en.php?parent 
=404&sid=404&id=522&idGallery=53. 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
MFA Director of Americas Department Moving On 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) MFA Director of the Department of Americas Jakub 
Skalnik will become the DCM at the Czech mission in the Hague 
in summer 2007. He does not know yet who will replace him. An 
MFA official told Poloff unofficially on March 29 that the 
top candidate for the position is the former Czech Ambassador 
to Mexico Vladimir Eisenbruk. 
GRABER