Solidarity, Exemplified

‘I AM not one of Fidel Castro’s favorite people,” said Václav Havel in February 2001. The millennium is still young, but that should end up one of its greatest understatements. The former Czech president-and still the guiding spirit in that country-is a constant irritant to the Castro dictatorship, even a threat. So is the Czech government at large. Indeed, ordinary Cubans have no better friends than the Czechs, and their relationship makes an amazing story.

That relationship was highlighted by recent events within the European Union. In January, the EU moved to lift sanctions it had imposed on Castro in 2003. This was after the dictator’s brutal crackdown, jailing 75 dissidents. Most remarkably, EU embassies in Havana started to invite dissidents-those still out of prison-to receptions and other official functions. But when the Socialist José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero came to power in Spain, he determined to remove the sanctions on Castro. And Spain has traditionally gotten its way on EU Cuba policy. Part of the drive was to prohibit invitations to dissidents; these had greatly infuriated the regime, and Zapatero wanted to play nice.

‘I AM not one of Fidel Castro’s favorite people,” said Václav Havel in February 2001. The millennium is still young, but that should end up one of its greatest understatements. The former Czech president-and still the guiding spirit in that country-is a constant irritant to the Castro dictatorship, even a threat. So is the Czech government at large. Indeed, ordinary Cubans have no better friends than the Czechs, and their relationship makes an amazing story.

That relationship was highlighted by recent events within the European Union. In January, the EU moved to lift sanctions it had imposed on Castro in 2003. This was after the dictator’s brutal crackdown, jailing 75 dissidents. Most remarkably, EU embassies in Havana started to invite dissidents-those still out of prison-to receptions and other official functions. But when the Socialist José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero came to power in Spain, he determined to remove the sanctions on Castro. And Spain has traditionally gotten its way on EU Cuba policy. Part of the drive was to prohibit invitations to dissidents; these had greatly infuriated the regime, and Zapatero wanted to play nice.