Re: Top model to exhibit photos of Cuba she hid in bra during arrest

The pigs won`t let the truth come out .


"PL" <pl.nospam@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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Top model to exhibit photos of Cuba she hid in bra during arrest

PRAGUE- Czech top model Helena Houdova, who was arrested in Cuba last week
while taking photographs of Havana's slums, told journalist that she will
display the pictures she took at an exhibition portraying the island not
only as a tourist paradise but also as a land of political oppression.
Houdova, Miss Czech Republic 1999, spoke to journalists today after
returning from Cuba.
"The revolution's watchmen rose up because I was taking pictures of
something they do not like," said the top model, referring to the fact that
the Communist regime of Fidel Castro denies the existence of slums on the
island.
Houdova was arrested along with psychologist and fellow model Mariana
Kroftova. The two women spent 11 hours in police custody.
They were not allowed to contact the Czech embassy throughout their arrest
and could not communicate with their jailers in English. They in vain
requested medical attention.
Upon their release, the women were requested to sign a statement saying they
would not travel beyond Havana. They remained under police surveillance
until their departure from the island.
The women received the support of locals, as well as of Czech embassy
employees.
The Cuban police confiscated the roll of film that was in the Czech women's
camera. However, Houdova managed to conceal the memory card of her digital
camera inside her brassiere.
The pictures she thus saved will be included in an exhibition Houdova plans
to organise together with People in Need (PINF), a Czech non-governmental
humanitarian relief organisation with a track record of supporting Cuba's
pro-democracy opposition.
Houdova said the exhibition should portray Cuba not only as a country with
beautiful nature, interesting architecture and a captivating atmosphere but
also as a state where people are imprisoned for their beliefs.
Houdova said her meetings with dissidents, the wives of political prisoners,
as well as with ordinary Cubans during her ten-day stay in Cuba made her
recollect her childhood in Communist Czechoslovakia.
"I am not an expert on the political situation in Cuba but I think some kind
of change is necessary there," she said.
Houdova went to Cuba to find out whether her Sunflower foundation could
assist the local children - orphans, the handicapped or those afflicted with
AIDS. She pointed out that it is almost impossible to provide any assistance
through official means because the Communist authorities refuse to admit
anything in their country does not work.
However, Houdova personally ascertained the pathetic situation in several
Cuban hospitals.
Although Houdova admitted she cannot predict how long Fidel Castro will
manage to maintain his totalitarian regime on the island, she said she
believes Cubans will soon live to experience liberty as have Czechs.
For the past two years, Houdova has been living mostly in New York and Los
Angeles where she works as a model. At the same time, she tries to raise
funds to help physically or socially handicapped children in different
countries around the world.
The Czech Foreign Ministry has summoned the Cuban charge d'affairs in Prague
to explain the conduct of the Cuban authorities in arresting the two Czech
women.
The case provides additional evidence of the frosty nature of official
Czech-Cuban political relations. Cuban officials have in the past described
the Czech Republic as a lackey of the United States.

http://www.ceskenoviny.cz/news/index_view.php?id=170092


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