» ICDC: International Committee for Democracy in Cuba

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Members

• Aguinis, Marcos

• is a well-known Argentine writer and cultural analyst who in 1983 was assigned as Vice-Secretary and eventually Secretary of Culture in Argentina. While Secretary, Aguinis created the National Program for the Democratization of Culture (PRONDEC), sponsored by UNESCO and the United Nations. In reflection of his life’s work, he was nominated for the UNESCO Education for Peace Award. His novels include: El Combate Perpetuo (1995), and El Cochero (2004).

• Ahlin, Urban

• is a representative of the Swedish Social Democratic Party, who is the vice Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Swedish Parliament. He has been working in the field of foreign policy and international solidarity for many years, as an MP and as the Deputy Secretary General of the Social Democratic Party. He is also a member of the Swedish parliamentary delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.

• Albright, Madeleine

• is the former US Secretary of State (1997 - 2000), a professor and a foreign policy expert. She has served as US Ambassador to the UN from (1993 -1996); a Senior Fellow in Soviet and Eastern European Affairs at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies and the Director of the Women in Foreign Service Program at Georgetown University. In 1981, she helped founded the Centre for National Policy, a non-profit non-partisan research organization, and served has served as one of its presidents.

• Aylwin, Patricio Azócar

• was president of Chile (1990-1994) after its return to democratic rule in 1990, following the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. He acted as a Senator (1964—73), including 2 years as President of the Senate. During his presidency, he led the reconstruction of Chile and the reconciliation of its people. He is now President of the Corporation for Democracy and Justice, a nonprofit organization which develops approaches to eliminating poverty and strengthening etthical values in politics. In 1997, he was awarded the North-South Prize by the Council of Europe.

• Aznar, José María

• served as Spain’s Prime Minister (1996 – 2004) representing the People’s Party. Under his leadership, the country’s economy was strengthened and in 1998 qualified to join the European single currency. Aznar was named a Distinguished Scholar in the Practice of Global Leadership at Georgetown University in 2004 and heads the FAES (Foundation for Social Research and Analysis) think tank.

• Bonner, Dr. Elena

• is a former Soviet dissident, long-term human rights activist and widow of 1975 Nobel Peace prize laureate, legendary physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov. After their long exile in Gorky, Russia, Sakharov and Bonner campaigned tirelessly in defense of self-determination for Armenians of Nagorno-Karabahn and for all people of the former Soviet Union. Bonner was a founding member of the Moscow Helsinki Monitoring Group, and is responsible for the establishment of several institutions including the Andrei Sakharov Foundation (Russia and USA).

• Calderon Sól, Armando

• served as President of El Salvador from 1994-1998 and two terms as Mayor of San Salvador, after impressive victories in the 1988 and 1991 elections. During his term as president, Dr. Calderon Sól successfully completed the Peace Accords which ended the nation's civil war. He has long been committed to the cause of freedom and democracy in Cuba.

• Campbell, Kim

• was Canada’s first female prime minister (serving in 1993) after being part of four different cabinet portfolios. She lectured at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government (2001 - 2004) and has continued as an Honorary Fellow at the Center for Public Leadership. She was a founding member of the Club of Madrid, an independent organization whose main purpose is to strengthen democracy in the world. Its membership is by invitation only and consists of former heads of state and government. In 2004 Campbell assumed the role of Secretary General of the organization.

• Ribeiro e Castro, José

• is a Portuguese Member of the European Parliament (since 1999). He is a member of the Human Rights Subcommittee, a member of the Development Committee and a member of the delegation of ACD-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly.

• Cerezo, Vinicio

• served as Guatemala’s first democratically elected civilian president following 15 years of military rule from 1986 until 1990. He withstood two separate coup attempts and in 1987 established the National Commission for Reconciliation as an attempt to instigate negotiations between the URNG (Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity) and the government. Cerezo helped found of the Central American Parliament in 1991 and served as one of the first set of deputies (1991 – 1995). He was a Guatemalan Christian Democratic Party’s Congressman from 2003 – 2007.

• Cox, Baroness Caroline

• is a member of the House of Lords, UK and is Chief Executive of HART (The Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust). In recognition of her work in the international humanitarian and human rights arenas over the past twenty years, she has been awarded the Commander Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland and the prestigious Wilberforce Award. She also serves as a non-executive director of the Andrei Sakharov Foundation, as a Trustee of MERLIN (Medical Emergency Relief International) and of the Siberian Medical University.

• Barrios de Chamorro, Violeta

• was President of Nicaragua (1990 – 1997) and the first woman to govern a Central American nation. She is the widow of the martyred Nicaraguan newspaper editor Joaquin Chamorro and was briefly part of the ruling Sandinista junta following the 1979 revolution. By April 1980, she left the Sandinista party and converted the Chamorro family newspaper, La Prensa, into the major opposition newspaper. After being elected to office, she successfully instituted a program of national reconciliation between the U. S. backed Contras and Sandinstas and ended Sandinista control of the media.

• Chun-Hsiung, Chang

• has served as the Prime Minister of Taiwan (the Republic of China) twice: from 2000-2002 and currently since May 2007. His previous positions have included: Secretary General of the Office of the President (2000) and Vice Premier of the ROC (2000) and as the Secretary General of the Democratic Progressive Party.

• Dimitrov, Philip

• served as the Prime Minister of Bulgaria from 1991 - 1992. Since then he has also been a Bulgarian Parliamentary member (1991 - 1997) (2005 - present), Bulgarian Ambassador to the UN (1997-1998) and Bulgarian Ambassador to the US (1998-2002). Mr. Dimitrov was awarded the Truman-Reagan Freedom Award in 1999 for his contributions in helping to overcome Communism.

• Figeľ, Ján

• has been the Slovak European Commissioner and the European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth since 2004. He has been a member of the National Council of the Slovak Republic (1992 – 1998), the Slovak Republic’s Secretary of State of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1998 – 2002) and chief negotiator for the Slovak Republic’s accession to the European Union.

• Frei, Eduardo

• was first elected as a Senator in 1989 and became the President of Chile from 1994 to 2000. He currently serves as the president of the Chilean Senate, to which he was most recently re-elected to in 2006. His father also served as the President of Chile from 1964 to 1970. He worked to modernize the Chilean economy during his presidency by further integrating Chile into the international community. His administration presided over Chile’s entrance into MERCOSUR, WTO and ADEC.

• Glucksmann, André

• is one of Europe’s leading philosophers. Noted for his support of the 1960s protest movement and opposed the communist regimes of Eastern Europe, he has regularly contributed to European newspapers and magazines, including Der Spiegl, El Pais and Il corriere della Sera. His books include Les Maitres Pensuears (1977), Cynisme et Passion (1981) and his latest publication Tchechenie, le Deshonneur Russe (2004).

• Göncz, Arpád

• is the former President of Hungary (1990— 2000). He was a founding member of the Network of Free Initiatives (NFI), and the Alliance of Free Democrats (AFD). In addition, he is a playwright and writer who has received a number of awards, including the Attila Josef Literary Prize (1983) and the Wheatland Prize (1989) for outstanding interpretation of English literature. He has been awarded many prestigious foreign decorations; including the prize of the American Institute of East-West Studies.

• Havel, Václav

• was the last president of Czechoslovakia and the first president of the Czech Republic, serving from 1989—2003. A leading figure of the 1989 Velvet Revolution and one of the co-founders of the Charter 77 initiative, Mr. Havel has been awarded numerous international prizes. In addition, he is a well-known writer and dramatist.

• Ilves, Toomas Henrik

• is the current President of Estonia. He was elected to the post by an electoral college on September 23, 2006 and his term as President began on October 9, 2006. In 1980s he worked as a journalist for Radio Free Europe and became actively involved in politics already prior to Estonia's regaining of independence in 1991. He has served as Estonia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs (1996 -1998; 1999 - 2002) and as an Estonian Member of the European Parliament (2003 – 2006).

• Kőszeg, Ferenc

• is the chair of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee

• Krauze, Enrique

• is a highly respected Mexican historian and writer, Krauzes’ books include Biografia del Poder (1987) and Siglo de Caudillos (1992). From 1977—1998, Krauze was deputy editor of the magazine Vuelta and in 1999 founded Letras Libres, a popular magazine in the Spanish-speaking world.

• Kučan, Milan

• Milan Kučan was the first President of Slovenia (1992-2002). He became the leader of the League of Communists of Slovenia in 1986, supporting open dialogue and the expansion of political freedoms. Slovenia under Kučan was the first of the federal units of Yugoslavia to introduce multi-party democracy, the first multi-party elections being held in April 1990 when he was elected president. He was responsible for leading Slovenia in its bid for independence and to successfully defend itself from the Yugoslav Army. He led Slovenia to be member of United Nations in 1992 and took an active role in campaigning for EU and NATO membership.

• Laar, Mart

• was Prime Minister of Estonia twice (1992 -1994; 1999 – 2002). He is widely considered responsible for the country’s adoption of a free market economy and Estonia’s rapid accession to the European Union. These accomplishments resulted in his being awarded the Polak Prize by the American Institute on Political and Economic Systems in 2003 and the Cato Institute’s Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty in 2006.

• Lacalle, Luis Alberto

• President of Uruguay from 1990—95, acted as Senator from 1984 and in 1987 was named Vice-President of the Senate. He was instrumental in organizing the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR) for the OAS countries. His decorations include The Great Collar of the Order Queen Isobel, from His Majesty Don Juan Carlos, King of Spain (Apríl 6, 1992).

• Landsbergis, Vytautas

• is a conservative MEP. He was the first Lithuanian head of state after the nation’s independence, serving from 1990 to 1992. Landsbergis was also a founding member of Sąjudis, the Lithuanian independence movement in 1988. In 1993, Landsbergis founded the political party Homeland Union, and served as speaker of parliament from 1996 to 2000.

• Llosa, Mario Vargas

• is a Peruvian novelist, playwright and journalist. His novels include ‘The Time of the Hero’ (1962), ‘The Green House’ (1966) and ‘The Feast of the Goat’ (2000). In 1990, he stood as conservative candidate for the Peruvian presidency. He has received numerous awards, including the Cervantes Prize (1994) and the National Book Critics Circle Award (1998).

• Malmström, Cecilia

• currently serves as the Minister for European Union Affairs in the Swedish government and has been a Member of the European Parliament for Sweden since 1999.

• McMillan-Scott, Edward H. C.

• was re-elected to his second term as the Vice-President of the European Parliament in 2007. He was the leader of the Conservatives in the EU from 1997 - 2001, and is a member of the Foreign Affairs, Human Rights and Common Foreign Security Committee. He was the founder of the European Democracy Initiative in the early 1990s and serves as the Chairman of the European Democracy Caucus that was established in 2005.

• Meckel, Markus

• was Minister of Foreign Affairs of the GDR from 1990, and is presently a Member of the German Parliament. His previous positions have included Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Vice-President of NATO Parliamentary Assembly (2000—2002).

• Meidani, Rexhep

• Rexhep Meidani is the former president of the Rupublic of Albania (1997-2002). After entering politics in the 1990s, he also became involved in civil society, serving as Chairman of the Board of the Albanian Center for Human Rights (1994-1996). In 1996, he joined the Socialist Party and was elected Secretary General, where he served until 1997. During his term, he played a crucial role in supporting Albania’s nascent democratic institutions and facilitating its economic revival. He was also central to the adoption and implementation of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, designed to foster peace, democracy, and economic development in the Balkans.

• Michnik, Adam

• is a well known former dissident, historian, writer, lecturer and one of Poland’s leading journalists. He founded and has been the editor in chief of the first independent Polish daily newspaper, Gazeta Wyborcza, since its inception in 1989. A life-long activist for human rights, he spent a total of six years in prison between 1965 and 1986 for his opposition to the communist regime. He serves as an adviser to the Solidarity trade union federation during the 1980s and was part of the Solidarity negotiating team during the Round Table negotiations of 1989 that brought an end to communist rule in Poland.

• Monge Alvarez, Luis Alberto

• served as President of Costa Rica between 1982 and 1986. He is a former trade union official and was the co-founder of PLN (National Liberation Party).

• Sanner, Jan Tore

• is a Norwegian MP, the deputy chair of the Norwegian conservative party and shadow minister of finance in Parliament. He also served as the head of Norwegian Parliament’s delegation to NATO’s Parliamentary Assembly between 2001-2005

• Schwarzenberg, Karel

• has served as a Senator in the Czech Republic since 2004. The former president of the IHCHR (International Helsinki Committee for Human Rights) (1985—1990), he was Chancellor in the office of President Havel between 1990 and 1992, and was the Executive Director of the Bohemia Foundation. Mr Scharzenberg actively supported Czech political exiles and oppositions movements in Czechoslovakia.

• Vaatz Arnold

• is a member of the German parliament (1998-) and since 2002 has been Vice President of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) fraction in Parliament concerning Human Rights, the Development of Eastern Lands and Economic Cooperation and Development. He is a member of the Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid.

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