Prague ready to accept more Cuban prisoners, Schwarzenberg says

Prague, Nov 2 (CTK) - The Czech Republic is ready to accept more released Cuban prisoners if they show interest in it, Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg (TOP 09) confirmed to CTK after yesterday's meeting with Rolando Jimenez Pozada, a Cuban dissident whom Prague accepted last week.

Prague plans to grant asylum to Pozada, who was recently released from Cuban prison and chose the Czech Republic as a country to settle down with his family.

The Czechs helped Pozada while in prison in the past years.

Schwarzenberg did not rule out that another Cuban human rights fighter may arrive in the Czech Republic, but said no concrete name is being discussed now.

"We will [accept more of them] if necessary. It mainly depends on whether they will show interest in coming here...Most of them tend to reach a country with the same [Spanish] language," Schwarzenberg said.

Pozada told journalists that he wants to learn Czech and would like to focus on his profession of a lawyer.

If the communist regime in Cuba collapsed, he and his wife would immediately return home, he said.

Pozada said he was arrested in Cuba in 2003 along with another 136 dissidents. He spent seven years and nine months in prison, including in isolation and in bad conditions. "Moreover, we were bullied by the prison wards," he said.

He learnt about his planned release in early October. Shortly afterwards he left for Spain and on October 26 further for Prague.

The Czech state wants to help the Pozada family overcome the culture barrier and integrate in the local society.

"The barrier is huge," Pozada admitted yesterday.

He said the difference between former Cuban leader Fidel Castro and brother Raul, the present leader, is negligible.

"Raul uses a different vocabulary, but it is no big liberalisation of the country in his case," Pozada said.

Prague has been a long-standing critic of the Cuban totalitarian regime. After Spain, the Czech Republic is the second EU country to welcome a released Cuban dissident. Outside the EU, the step has been taken by the USA and Chile.