Posted on 02/01/2006 11:07:55 AM PST by Onelifetogive
Top Czech model Helena Houdova was arrested in Cuba last week while taking photographs of Havana's slums – but she managed to smuggle out pictures she hid in her bra.
Houdova – Miss Czech Republic 1999 – was arrested along with fellow model Mariana Kroftova, and Cuban police confiscated a roll of film in the women’s camera. However, Houdova concealed the memory card of her digital camera insider her brassiere.
"The revolution's watchmen rose up because I was taking pictures of something they do not like," Houdova told journalists after returning to the Czech Republic.
The Communist regime of Fidel Castro denies the existence of slums on the island.
The two women spent 11 hours in police custody and were not allowed to contact the Czech embassy. Upon their release, the women were asked to sign a statement saying they would not travel beyond Havana, and they remained under police surveillance until their departure from the island, according to the Czech news source Ceskenoviny.
The photos Houdova saved will be included in an exhibition she plans to organize together with People in Need, a Czech humanitarian relief organization that has supported Cuba's pro-democracy opposition. The exhibition would portray Cuba’s beautiful scenery but also highlight its political oppression, Houdova disclosed.
During her 10-day stay in Cuba, Houdova said, her meetings with dissidents, the wives of political prisoners and ordinary Cubans reminded her of her childhood in Communist Czechoslovakia.
The Czech Foreign Ministry summoned the Cuban charge d'affairs in Prague to explain the conduct of the Cuban authorities in arresting the two women.
Czech-Cuban political relations have been frozen since the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia in 1989. The Czech Republic has attempted several times to push through U.N. resolutions critical of Castro’s regime over its record on human rights.
I don't get it.
It's a good thing she wasn't wearing that particular shirt!!! LOL!
I don't think some Freepers realize the seriousness of this news bite. It's about more than a model's cute face and actions; it's about the life and death of an oppressed people. I'm a little sick at some comments; nevertheless, I am grateful to Helena for such bravery in getting the truth out. I long for the day when all Fidel-like excrement will be only a memory ...
I think most everyone realizes it....
you ever see eyes EXPLODE before???
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