Czech Republic denies plans to grant asylum to Cuban terror suspect
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7 May 2007 06:00 BBC Monitoring European English
Text of report by Czech newspaper Mlada Fronta Dnes website on 28 April
The Czech Foreign Ministry has denied claims by the Cuban authorities that the Czech Republic is to become a safe refuge for Cuban terrorist Luis Posada Carilles, who is accused by Cuba and Venezuela of terrorism. Last week a US court released Carriles from custody on bail.
„Unfortunately, this is a case of a deliberate campaign aimed at discrediting us,“ Czech Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zuzana Opletalova told Pravo.
According to Cuban sources, the choice of the Czech Republic as a „velvet asylum“ was negotiated with Czech diplomats even before the decision of the Texas court, where Carriles, a one-time CIA operative, was facing charges of violating immigration regulations.
The asylum for Carriles is supposed to have been negotiated by Cuban American Pedro Navajo, who has „a close tie to the CIA.“ According to Cuban authorities the idea of negotiating with the Czechs originally came from Frank Calzon, one-time executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation, an organization of Cuban emigrants in the United States, on the basis of the precedent set by the Czech Government, which over the last few months has accepted several Cubans who have been detained by the US Coast Guard while attempting to emigrate from the island and temporarily held at the Guantanamo base.
Accepting Cubans normal practice
„Accepting Cubans is connected with Czech foreign policy. This is a case of people persecuted by the regime,“ Dzamila Stehlikova, minister for human rights and ethnic minorities, told Pravo. „This is normal practice. For instance, Australia accepts hundreds of similar refugees. For Cubans we are a host country, a kind of temporary home until such time as the situation in their country changes,“ she added.
„After 1968 various countries accepted tens of thousands of Czechs and Slovaks. Why should the Czech Republic not offer something similar to people from Cuba?“ Simon Panek of the People in Need foundation told Pravo.
Carriles is a militant opponent of Castro's regime and a former employee of the US espionage service. In her decision on releasing the terrorist, Kathleen Cardone, the presiding judge of the Texas court, said that he is accused of „being connected with some of the most shocking acts of the 20th century or being mix up in them… these include the Bay of Pigs invasion, the Iran-Contras scandal, the bombing of Cubana flight 455, the bombs at tourist facilities in Havana in 1997, and according to some theorists also the murder of President John F. Kennedy.“
Cuba also accuses Carriles of an assassination attempt on Fidel Castro in 2000 in Panama, where Carriles was imprisoned for a short time afterward. Venezuela is searching for him as a fugitive from investigative custody concerning an attempt at blowing up a plane.
Source: Mlada Fronta Dnes website, Prague, in Czech 28 Apr 07