Czeching Castro

It is a relationship that is often overlooked and rarely examined. I speak of the remarkable support that the Czech Republic has consistently provided to Cuban dissidents. And no one has been more vociferous Vaclav Havel. While most of the EUnuchs have been eager to repair relations with Cuba the Czechs continue to hold the line. A piece at the Foreign Policy Association examines the relationship:

"We were also under the same conditions as Cuba," said Vladimir Bartovic, a Czech student who has collaborated with PIN and traveled to Cuba three times to support dissident efforts. "We were living in an undemocratic regime. We have an understanding for the people of Cuba and their living conditions, the inhumanity and the violating of human rights."

Cuban students and workers living in communist Czechoslovakia and other historical exchanges play an important role in existing bilateral relations. "Czechoslovakia was the second biggest trade partner with Cuba after the Soviet Union," said Dana Braschov PIN's senior program officer for Cuba. "A lot of Czechoslovakians were working in Cuba" she added.