_ARRESTED_CZECHS
CUBA ISSUES DETAILED REPORT ON ARRESTED CZECHS
Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit
The following report was issued by the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs on
the arrest of Czechs working for "Freedom House"
January 25, 2001
INFORMATION ON THE CAUSES FOR THE ARREST OF CZECH CITIZENS IVAN PILIP ANDJAN
BUBENIK, AND THE EXTENSIVE HISTORY OF CONSPIRACY AND INTERFERENCE ON THEPART
OF THE CZECH GOVERNMENT AND ITS DIPLOMATIC REPRESENTATIVES IN CUBA,WHICH
DEMONSTRATE THE CLOSE AND DIRECT CONNECTION BETWEEN THIS POLICY ANDTHE LATEST
INCIDENT.
The Government of the Czech Republic, as part of its ongoing campaign tocast
doubt on the charges made by Cuba, continues to maintain that
Cuba'saccusations against two Czech citizens caught in the act of
promotingsubversion within our country are false.Acting out of ignorance,
prejudice or ill intent, representatives of othercountries have echoed the
false claims made by the Czech government, andhave voiced uninformed opinions
whose content and nature are damaging to thepeople and the Government of the
Republic of Cuba.What is the true story?On January 12 of this year,
authorities from the Cuban Immigration Divisionin Ciego de Ávila, Republic of
Cuba, arrested Czech citizens Ivan Pilip andJan Bubenik. Although they had
entered the country as tourists, theyviolated that status following
instructions from the U.S.-basedcounterrevolutionary organization Freedom
House to hold conspiratorialmeetings with members of small subversive groups
in that province.The involvement of Freedom House in the most recent Cuban
program set up bythe U.S. Government, under section 109 of the Helms-Burton
Act, adopted in1996 to destabilize our Revolution through the promotion of
internalsubversion, began in 1997 with the ``Transition Project'', which
receivedgenerous financing from the U.S. Agency for International
Development(USAID), to the tune of 500,000 dollars. This was followed by a
further275,000 dollars in 1999, which was doubled to 550,000 in the year
2000. Thefirst program gave rise to the establishment of an anti-Cuban
organizationcalled ``Center for a Free Cuba'', headed by CIA agent and former
FreedomHouse Cuban Project director Frank Calzon. The Center has already
receivedover a million dollars from USAID for the same purposes.One of the
fundamental goals of Freedom House current project is to identifyand recruit
politicians, journalists and community activists fromcentral-eastern Europe
experienced in the so-called ``democratictransitions,'' which is how they
describe the overthrow of revolutionarygovernments. These recruits are then
sent to Cuba to undertake destabilizingand subversive actions.USAID publicly
acknowledged in June of 2000 that Freedom House had organizeda visit to Cuba
by four journalists, four members of parliament, twoeconomists and an
academic from Eastern Europe, all of whom were trained insubversive tactics
and paid with U.S. government funds. This is exactly whatthey have just done
with Ivan Pilip and Jan Bubenik, as we have been able toconfirm.Ivan Pilip
was formerly Minister of Finances in his country, and iscurrently a deputy in
the Czech parliament. As for Jan Bubenik, he is amember of the so-called
``Czech Pro-Democracy Foundation'' and was one ofthe leaders of the
anti-socialist movement in Czechoslovakia.They both arrived in Cuba on
January 8, 2001 through the José MartíInternational Airport in Havana, on
flight CBE-7538 from Cancun, Mexico,following a two-day stay in the United
States of America.Investigations have revealed that Ivan Pilip has
connections with a numberof Freedom House officials, including Robert (Bob)
Pontichera, Director ofPrograms in the organization. It was Pontichera who
proposed covering thecosts for Pilip to travel to Cuba, accompanied by a
friend, in order tocontact certain individuals and deliver to them the means
necessary to carryout the U.S. government's program of subversive
activities.It has been verified that Pilip and Bubenik arrived in New York
earlier inJanuary and met with Robert Pontichera for dinner on January 6.
Ponticherainformed them that the people they would be meeting with in Cuba
wereopponents of the Cuban government, and that they were expected to speak
withthem and obtain information about the political, economic and
socialsituation on the island. He gave them a list with the names and
addresses ofthese individuals and 1400 dollars to cover their accommodation,
food andcar rental costs, for which they would have to show receipts.The
Freedom House representative also gave the two Czechs a laptop computerwith
various accessories, diskettes and CDs to be handed over to the peoplethey
would be meeting with in our country.He also advised them that on their
return from Cuba they should meet withthe Freedom House representative again
to report on the results of the visitand the information obtained, which is
why the itinerary for their returntrip was Havana-Cancun-Miami-Washington,
where they would stay for severaldays.He also warned them that the names of
the individuals they were to contactin Cuba should be entered into an
electronic organizer under a secret code,so that the authorities would not
have access to this information even ifthey were arrested.The investigations
into the Czech citizens' stay in Cuba reveal that uponarriving in Cuba, they
rented a car from a tourist car rental agency, withthe license plate number
T-005267. Then they drove through the provinces ofMatanzas, Cienfuegos and
Sancti Spíritus, like regular tourists visiting thecountry's central region,
continuing on January 11 to the province of Ciegode Ávila, the place of their
first rendezvous according to the list ofindividuals given to them in the
United States, all of whom live in thecentral and eastern regions of the
country.Once in this province, they visited two known counterrevolutionaries,
withwhom they discussed the issues indicated by Robert Pontichera and
attemptedto obtain information to pass on to Freedom House. The list of names
andaddresses was protected by electronic means.The work assigned to Pilip and
Bubenik is nothing new to our country. Thisis simply the latest in a long
list of interfering and destabilizing actionsconducted by the Czech Republic
against the Cuban revolutionary process.For more than a decade, there has
been close and systematic monitoring inCuba of the subversive activities of
Czech diplomats in step withinstructions from intelligence agencies and other
institutions in the UnitedStates passed on through the U.S. Interests Section
in Havana.These conspiracies began in 1989. In 1987, an extensive espionage
networkhandled by officials in the above-mentioned U.S. Interests Section in
Cubahad been dismantled. As the Interests Section restructured its forces,
meansand methods, it called on the diplomats of other countries for
assistance,and it was precisely at this point that the Embassy of what was
thenCzechoslovakia became an instrument of the U.S. Interests Section and
itsmain center of subversion.In addition to this, for the first time on March
3, 1990, the U.S.Administration assigned the Czech government the task of
cosponsoring aloathsome draft resolution condemning Cuba at the Commission on
Human Rightsin Geneva. It was a hard-fought battle, but the United States
managed to getthe resolution passed thanks to the unanimous support of its
NATO allies.From then on, the Government of the Czech Republic has maintained
an openlyhostile stance towards Cuba. At that point, our country was not
onlyheroically withstanding a genocidal blockade, but also suffering
anextremely hard and prolonged special period, the result of the loss of
itstraditional markets and suppliers, with no support from abroad
whatsoever.The general assumption back then was that our country would not to
able towithstand such a grueling test. During those years, the Czech
governmentstepped up its conspiring with the United States and its support
for thatcountry's aggressive policy towards Cuba, as reflected by its
unconditionalbacking of the hostile stance of successive U.S.
administrations. The CzechRepublic earned itself the questionable honor of
being the first formersocialist country to adopt this traitorous line in its
foreign policy.Between March and December of that year 1990, the Czech
official took partin a series of provocation in Cuba. These included
sponsoringcounterrevolutionary groups inside Cuba and providing material
assistance,technical and financial support and political backing to them, as
well asactive proselytizing in intellectual and academic circles.There was
also the incident plotted in connivance with U.S. diplomats, whenCzech
officials helped a counterrevolutionary group to illegally enter theCzech
embassy; this illegal entry was in fact planned and fostered fromwithin the
Czech embassy itself, and led to similar illegal acts in otherdiplomatic
missions.Also in late December of 1990, and obviously in coordination with
the UnitedStates, the Government of what was still Czechoslovakia decided to
suspendits representation of Cuba's interests in Washington which it had had
for 29years, beginning January 3, 1961, when the United States severed
relationswith Cuba as a prelude to the mercenary invasion of the Bay of Pigs,
whichtook place three months later, on April 17 of that year.It should be
recalled that one of the first measures adopted by thepost-socialist
Government in Prague was the arbitrary and brutal decision tounilaterally
rescind the agreements signed by Cuba and the former SocialistRepublic of
Czechoslovakia, a move which put that country in league with theU.S. blockade
against the island. This was accompanied by the closure of theCzech Cultural
Center in Havana and the organization of an anti-Cuba seminarin the very
capital of Czechoslovakia attended by numerous so-called ``Czechdissidents'',
including Pavel Bratinska and President Havel himself, whowarmly welcomed
such counterrevolutionaries as Más Canosa, the head of amob-style terrorist
organization created by the United States, and CarlosAlberto Montaner, among
others of the same ilk.Subsequently, throughout the year of 1991, the Czech
officials were observedto take a very active part in support of internal
counterrevolution. Newacts of provocation were organized from within the
embassy, and in 1992 ateam of Czech officials began to arrive in Cuba to
undertake this kind ofsubversion in a more organized and systematic
manner.This is how subversive activities unfolded over the years 1989, 1990
and1991. The information obtained throughout those years on the
aforementionedofficials shows the intensive efforts made from within that
diplomaticmission against Cuba in the service of the U.S. Government. There
is alsomore than sufficient proof of how the services offered by the Czech
embassyin Cuba have been used by the anti-Cuban mob in Miami, particularly
theCuban-American National Foundation --organizer of numerous plots
toassassinate the Head of the Cuban State and Government-- and the
previouslymentioned Freedom House.The illegal and clearly subversive and
counterrevolutionary actionsconducted by a group of Czech diplomats based in
our country over recentyears have been fully verified.The most visible of
these officials was Petr Mikyska, who arrived in ourcountry on August 7, 1992
and remained here for four years and two months.He first came to Cuba as a
third secretary in charge of consular affairs inthe then Embassy of
Czechoslovakia; it was his first diplomatic posting.In January of 1993, with
the division of the former Czechoslovakia, he wasappointed acting Chargé
d'Affairs at the embassy of the Czech Republic inCuba.Within a few months of
arriving in our country, he began to haveprogressively increased contact with
various counterrevolutionary leaders,and became one of the most active
diplomats involved with these elements, towhom he systematically provided
political and material support for theiractivities.During his stay in Cuba,
he was also seen to have close ties with U.S.Interests Section officials,
precisely for the purpose of giving support tothe counterrevolutionaries. He
had particularly close relations withChristopher Sibilla, the second
secretary of the U.S. Interests Section atthe time who was also deeply
involved in the activities of thesecounterrevolutionary groups, and later
with Robin Dianne Meyer, that is,Sibilla's successor.The latter was widely
known for her open instigation of counterrevolutionarygroups to commit
subversive actions. She kept up this illegal activity until1996 when due to
her unacceptable behavior she was denied an extension ofher visa.The work of
these American diplomats and their close ties with Mikyska werepart of the
strategy aimed at economically subsidizing thecounterrevolutionary activities
of their allies within the country.One of Mikyska's assignments in Cuba was
to meet with members of the tinycounterrevolutionary groups on an almost
daily basis, in the embassy or athis home. He offered them all kinds of
assistance, participated in numerousmeetings and other activities organized
by these individuals, and evenpromoted the realization of such meetings at
the embassy itself, therebyinciting actions against the domestic order.On
October 16, 1993, Petr Mikyska took active part at a conspiratorialmeeting in
San Antonio de los Bańos, in the province of Havana, aimed at theinception of
a new counterrevolutionary group.From that stage on, the Czech diplomatic
mission became a focal point fromwhich slanderous accusations against Cuba
were transmitted through theembassy's communications systems to subversive
radio stations in the U.S.territory, or forwarded to engross the dossier of
anti-Cuban lies createdby the United States at the Commission on Human Rights
in Geneva.It has also been duly confirmed that said Czech diplomat made over
20 tripsto Miami to meet with leaders of counterrevolutionary organizations
basedthere.He had been recruited during a trip to Miami on April 15, 1993 by
thechairman of the Board of Directors of the Cuban-American
NationalFoundation, José Francisco Hernández Calvo, himself a notorious
terrorist, afounding member of the CANF, and member of its paramilitary group
closelylinked to various plots to assassinate President Fidel Castro. Among
thoseplots there was one to be executed by the four known terrorists held
inPanama since mid-November of 2000, whose extradition Cuba continues
toactively pursue.It should be recalled that José Francisco Hernández was
also involved in theplot to assassinate President Fidel Castro that was to be
carried out by acounterrevolutionary commando based in the United States and
detained enroute to Margarita Island, Venezuela, where the 7th Ibero-American
Summitwas set to take place in 1997. One of the weapons seized from the
commandowas a 50-caliber semi-automatic assault rifle with a telescopic
infraredsight, registered in the name of this notorious terrorist and leader
of theCuban-American National Foundation. Nevertheless, Hernández was not
evenincluded in the trial of the would-be as
