The recently released Cuban dissident José Luis García Paneque is also among the guests invited to the Forum 2000 Conference

In 2003, the Cuban doctor and former director of the New Cuban Press (Nueva Prensa Cubana) project José Luis García Paneque was sentenced to 24 years in prison for allegedly conspiring to destabilize the Cuban political system for the benefit of the United States. During his 7 years in prison, he spent 17 long months in isolation. “Conditions in prison are terrible,” his wife Yamilé Yánez told the American media upon being allowed by the Cuban government to travel to the USA with their children. “The water is undrinkable, the food is spoilt, and the hygiene conditions are poor. On top of that, they threatened him with the rape of our daughter.” Paneque, who flew to Madrid with other Cuban dissidents upon being released on July 13, weighed less than 40 kilos as a result of the appalling conditions in the Cuban jail where he had been detained. Consequently, the Cuban dissident’s attendance at the conference (which will take place in Prague on October 10–12, 2010) will depend on his state of health.

 

Besides Paneque, the organizers of this year’s conference have also invited the Iranian human rights activist and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize Shirin Ebadi, who has already confirmed that she will be attending. As is now traditional, the invited guests also include one of the most famous Cuban dissidents Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas and the leader of the Burmese opposition movement Aung San Suu Kyi. In their cases, however, there is little chance of their being able to attend the conference, because the regimes in their respective countries will not allow them to travel to Prague. “Despite this, we are convinced that it is worthwhile inviting them to our conference every year, even though we know that the letter of invitation from Václav Havel will not even reach them and will most probably end up with some censor,” says the Executive Director of the Forum 2000 Foundation Oldřich Černý. “Nevertheless, we strive to ensure that they at least find out that we have invited them to the conference and they can live in the knowledge that, even on the other side of the world, there are people who value and appreciate their work and opinions. Moreover, Václav Havel is a great inspiration to these people and gives them hope that something like the Velvet Revolution could also occur in their country some day. I myself remember very well how important support from abroad was for us dissidents before 1989. The leader of the Belarusian democratic opposition movement and our regular guest Alyaksandar Milinkevich could undoubtedly add his voice to this, as could Trudy Stevenson, a leading figure in the Zimbabwean opposition movement who has also attended the conference several times. Since its inception, the issue of human rights, support for democracy and criticism of totalitarian regimes has been an integral part of the Forum 2000 Conference. It could not be any other way when you consider the fact that, besides Václav Havel, the event’s founders are the Japanese philanthropist Yohei Sasakawa and the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel.“