Mexican President Felipe Calderón wore a broad smile as he warmly greeted Cuba’s Raúl Castro at the Rio Group summit on the posh Mexican Riviera last week. The two men, dressed in neatly pressed guayabera shirts, shook hands as Mr. Calderón, with no small measure of delight, gestured to his audience to welcome Mexico’s very special guest.

A mere 300 miles away, in a military prison hospital in Havana, political prisoner Orlando Zapata lay in a coma. For 84 days the 42-year-old stone mason of humble origins had been on a hunger strike to protest the Castro regime’s brutality toward prisoners of conscience. His death was imminent. Read More..

Was it the song? Jama y Libertad. Food and freedom, croons Boris Larramendi.

The Madrid-based Cuban songwriter wrote the tune as part of the campaign to free Pánfilo, imprisoned last month in Cuba after he drunkenly declared in a YouTube video that there is hunger on the island.

Pánfilo was reportedly released Thursday night and sent to a rehab program for 21 days. Then, the government says, he is free to go home, which is not the same as being free.

Veteran human rights activists have long maintained that publicity and pressure work, even in Cuba, one of the few places in the world where a man can go to prison for announcing in an 81-second YouTube video that he is hungry. A campaign to free Pánfilo, www.jamaylibertad.com, was launched on August 26, about three weeks after his arrest, by a group of Cuban exiles with no experience as human-rights activists.

More than 3,000 people — from Paris to Havana and from New Jersey to Chile — signed a letter urging the Cuban government to free Pánfilo and to respect the right to basic freedoms for all its citizens. The letter was delivered Thursday in Miami to a representative of Juanes, the Colombian singer who is scheduled to perform in a pro-peace concert in Havana Sunday.

Was it Juanes? It wouldn’t do to have a Latin American star in a government-sponsored concert in La Plaza de la Revolución, while Pánfilo sat in a cell and the international campaign raged on.

We may never know why he was released. What is now apparent is that the Cuban government has quickly — quicker than ever before — rectified a grievous mistake. That is, if Pánfilo is treated as an alcoholic and not as a mentally disturbed patient.

“It must have caught the government by surprise,” said Enrique Del Risco, a writer and lecturer in New York, and one of the organizers of the campaign. “It was too quick. It moved too fast for them and there was a lot of enthusiasm around. Some people asked me, `Why Pánfilo?’ and my answer was, `Why not Pánfilo?”’

Juan Carlos González Marco, 48, who calls himself Pánfilo, became a YouTube sensation in late Spring, when he walked in front of a camera to state a simple but fundamental truth: What we need is food, only he said “jama,” [pronounced HA-ma], using Cuban slang.

Pánfilo quickly went from being the archetype of the town drunk to a symbol of all that ails the Cuban people. In June, in a second video, a sober Pánfilo asks to be left alone. If it was possible for some people to laugh with the first video, it was impossible not to be moved by the second. You can’t ignore the fear in Pánfilo’s eyes. He is a man afraid of the state.

And then there is the third video. The spontaneity of the first video is gone, and so is the soberness of the second one. In their place is a grotesque performance of a shirtless drunk ranting about hunger and the police.

Days after the third video was posted on YouTube, on July 28, Pánfilo was arrested and charged with “dangerousness,” a draconian concept which means that he has the potential of committing a crime, but hasn’t yet. He was sentenced initially to two years in prison, which was cruel, short-sighted and absurdly out of step with the modern world.

For years Cuba has reacted to outside pressure to release political prisoners. European presidents, members of the U.S. Congress, famous writers have all interceded on behalf of political prisoners, such as Armando Valladares, Ernesto Díaz Rodríguez, and Angel Cuadra, who were brought to their attention by campaigns orchestrated by a handful of human rights activists. Still, it took decades to free most of them.

That was pre-Internet. Pánfilo is a different story. He may have been both doomed and saved by the Internet. His YouTube video was seen by more than half a million. But so was the news of his sentence and imprisonment and, more important, a quick thinking campaign that incorporated the best that technology has to offer.

It took days to collect more than 3,000 signatures on his behalf. Back in the ’60s and ’70s and even the ’80s, when activists like Frank Calzon, now with the Center for a Free Cuba, were campaigning to free political prisoners, communication between Cuba and Washington could take months.

“First we had to hear about the case from someone who brought it to our attention,” said Calzon. “Pánfilo was known to the world before he was imprisoned.”

He was also the perfect victim. Pánfilo was not a human-rights activist, a dissident or an intellectual. He is, simply, a man. A black man who is hungry and drinks too much. Therein lie his power and his weakness.

The government has always been intolerant of dissent, but it is particularly vicious when the dissenter is black. The most recent victims of execution in Cuba were three young black men attempting to steal a vessel to escape the island six years ago.

Pánfilo has escaped that fate. He’s never said he wants to leave Cuba. What he wants is food. What he needs is food, rehab and freedom. But when he walks out of rehab, Pánfilo will still lack food. And freedom.

Mirta Ojito is an assistant professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism in New York.

The Miami Herald, September 20, 2009
© 2009 Miami Herald Media Company. All Rights Reserved.

http://www.miamiherald.com

The Myers are not the first U.S. government officials to be accused of spying for Cuba. Ana Belen Montes, a high intelligence officer at the Defense intelligence Agency is currently serving a 25- year sentence for spying for Havana. She was very influential in the Pentagon assessment of Havana’s level of anti-American hostility. Havana’s diplomats in Washington have unimpeded access to Congressional hearings, Congressional offices, think tanks and universities, while American diplomats on the island are harassed and denied similar access.

While the Department of State has sought to improve relations with Havana for more than two years, Havana continues to implement policies that would be considered totally unacceptable if carried out by other governments, including the arbitrary delays and even the breaking into the United States diplomatic pouch.

The Center for a Free Cuba, a non-partisan pro-democracy organization, called today on Congressmen Silvestre Reyes and Peter Hoekstra, chairman and ranking member respectively of the House Committee on Intelligence “to hold hearings as soon as possible about both Cuban intelligence operations in the United States, the hostile efforts against the United States by Cuban intelligence operatives elsewhere, and the work of “agents of influence” working for Havana in Washington.”

Frank Calzon, executive director, of the Center for a Free Cuba, said that “the Obama Administration is absolutely right to monitor carefully the work of Cuba, North Korea, Iran and other regimes which have associated themselves with international terrorism.” The FBI should be congratulated for their undercover operation which brought to light the pernicious work of Mr. Myers who, according to the FBI, had access to more than 200 secret and top-secret intelligence reports about Cuba.

Perhaps this announcement will encourage American government officials, including Congressional staff, to report to appropriate government agencies any approach by diplomats and others working for those regimes.”

Latin American Experts Outline Priorities for Trinidad Summit
Thursday, April 16, 2009

What Obama should do at the Summit of the Americas
Thursday, April 16, 2009

Why dealing with the Castro regim is a fools errand
Thursday, April 16, 2009

Limits lifted Cuban Americans make travel plans
Thursday, April 13, 2009

Obama’s Cuba Policy Risks an Opportunity
Thursday, April 13, 2009

U.S. Cuba policy Don’t change just for change’s sake
Thursday, April 12, 2009

Coddling Cuba
Thursday, April 9, 2009

Placetas-Frankfurt am Main (May 27, 2008): Over this past weekend, Cuban police forcibly disbanded a meeting of Cuban civil rights activists. The International Society for Human Rights declares that at least two people were injured by the police. This deployment of police is the most severe show of force in the past month. The ISHR calls on the government of General Raul Castro to promptly cease using force against civil rights activists and followers of the Cuban democratic movement.

The meeting took place in the town of Placetas in the home of the well known human rights activist and previous political prisoner Jorge Luis Garcia Perez, often called “Atunez”. The Afro-Cuban member of the ISHR in Frankfurt am Main continues to be one of the most prominent non-violent civil rights activists against the communist dictator in Cuba. Although he sat 19 years in prison for publicly criticizing Fidel Castro he still fights for human rights in Cuba, explains the ISHR. He protests with sit-ins, hunger strikes and silent vigils.

The civil rights activist Martha Beatriz Roque explained that at least 30 people were temporarily apprehended. Two of them were mistreated by the police and required medical attention. Roque is the speaker for the “Asamblea para Promover la Sociedad Civil en Cuba”, which despite being declared illegal by the Castro regime is one of the leading opposition groups against the dictator.

Dr. José Luis García Paneque’s semblance was a shock to his mother, father and sister, “…my son resembles a skeleton…he barely has any fat under his skin…he has stick like thighs, his backbone protrudes as he bends over…he is emaciated to the point that his stomach is almost touching his backbone…his skin color is very strange to me…I would describe it as grayish blue…”.

The 42-year old Cuban prisoner of conscience who weighs a little over 100 pounds told his family that he continues bleeding daily through the rectum, a complication related to the malabsorption syndrome he suffers from, an illness that he developed in prison and which does not allow the food he ingests to nourish his body.

Dr. García Paneque also expressed that he is having trouble sleeping at night since the common prisoners he is forced to share a barrack with make loud noises as they play games throughout the night.

Dr. García Paneque was arrested on March 18, 2003, and sentenced to 24 years in jail during the wave of repression that the Cuban government carried out against members of the civil society who were promoting independent ideas on the island.

The wife and four children of this Cuban doctor were forced to seek exile in the United States on March 8, 2007, because of the violent acts of repudiation that were being carried out against their home by mobs instigated by Cuban State Security.

Dr. García Paneque’s family makes an URGENT APPEAL to the international community since they fear for the safety and physical and psychological well-being of this Cuban physician who is unjustly imprisoned in a maximum-security prison for peacefully defending the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in his own country.

Information obtained from Mrs. Moralinda Paneque via telephone from Las Tunas, Cuba, by the Coalition of Cuban-American Women / LAIDA CARRO / E-mail: joseito76@aol.com / FAX: 305-740-7323

“It is self evident that in these restricted critiques- a complete repudiation of Communism is not desired,” stated the ISHR. The editorials serve simply as an outlet for pre-approved critique. No truly uncensored complaints against the system are allowed. Of course this is a good first step in the course towards the freedom to express ideas; the question remains whether these concessions are serving as a skilful maneuver to quiet European observers. Through such accommodations, the Castro brothers could further their success in appeasing the international community and in unfreezing their frozen assets. But while politically different thinkers are imprisoned for a peaceful gathering, no actual improvement can be discussed, says the ISHR.

ECHOES Heard Around the Globe
Embracing Human Rights Issues Through Film

On May 14–17, 2008, People in Need in collaboration with the Embassy of the Czech Republic presents “Echoes” of One World in Washington, DC. The human rights film festival features 6 films focused on the atrocities and human rights violations affecting Burma, Belarus, and Cuba. Debates with experts or filmmakers on the given theme of each film follows the screenings.

Ambassador of the Czech Republic Petr Kolář and Igor Balževic, founder and director of the One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, open the series with the DC premiere of Citizen Havel (Občan Havel) at the Avalon Theatre on May 14, 2008, 7:30 pm. The film reveals the remarkable journey of Václav Havel and never-before-seen footage of his time spent in office, including meetings with such celebrities as the Rolling Stones and political figureheads President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

The festival then moves to the Goethe-Institut, May 15−17, 2008, for the following screenings:
Thursday, May 15, 6 pm Burma’s Secret War, Burma 2008, and Burmese Student Films
Thursday, May 15, 8:30 pm Crime and Punishment (Ziu yu Fa)
Friday, May 16, 6 pm Belarusian Waltz
Friday, May 16, 8:30 pm Ladies in White (Damas de Blanco)
Saturday, May 17, 6 pm To See If I’m Smiling
Saturday, May 17, 8:30 pm The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo
In connection to the festival, People in Need will present at the Embassy of the Czech Republic the exhibition Spark of Bravery, a series of photographs of Belarusian dissidents and activists revealing their stories of repression under the authoritarian rule of President Lukashenka.

One World International Human Rights Festival

The 10th Annual One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival took place in Prague in March 2008. Organized by the Czech non-governmental organization People in Need, the festival is traditionally held under the auspices of former president Václav Havel. The 10th annual festival was dedicated to the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Burma. In its 10 years of existence, One World has developed a unique and successful model combining activities of a human rights film festival with a year-long institution, supporting the formation of a new human rights film festival in a post-Soviet space, promoting film as an education tool, and establishing regular documentary film programs in cinemas and TV stations.
One World is now the largest human rights film festival in Europe attracting close to 40,000 viewers each year. The festival is symbolically held in Prague, the site of the Velvet Revolution which served as a turning point in overthrowing communism. The additional “echoes”
of the festival in the world’s political centers and areas still struggling for democracy give the whole tour another important dimension in creating awareness for human rights issues throughout the world.

“Echoes” of One World in Washington, DC

On the occasion of its 10th anniversary, People in Need is organizing “Echoes” of One World in 10 to 15 major cities around the globe. Through these strategic festivals, People in Need aims to make human rights issues more visible. “Echoes” of One World in Washington, DC, is organized in conjunction with a human rights conference focusing on issues affecting Cuba, Belarus, and Burma.

Democratization and human rights agendas are important to the identity of modern Czech foreign policy. Through the festival, People in Need and the Embassy of the Czech Republic hope to emphasize the Czech Republic as a country keenly devoted to addressing democratization of totalitarian regimes and as a country prepared to share its experience from its our successful transformation.
PRESS RELEASE Washington, DC, April 16, 2008

Opening Night: “Echoes” of One World DC Film Festival
Wednesday, May 14, 7:30 pm
Avalon Theatre
Admission: Adult $9.75 / Senior, Student, or Military $7
Citizen Havel (Občan Havel)

Directed by: Pavel Koutecky and Miroslav Janek
2008, 120 min., CZECH REPUBLIC, in Czech with English subtitles
Washington, DC, Premiere!

Plot summary:
Ambassador of the Czech Republic Petr Kolář and Igor Blaževic, founder and director of the One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, will present opening remarks at the event. After the split of Czechoslovakia in 1992, former political dissident, leader of the Velvet Revolution, playwright, and essayist Vacláv Havel became the first president of a new country, the Czech Republic. Thus it came to pass that a former enemy of the state was given the popular mandate to transform that state and its institutions. Such events are not commonplace. Therefore, from day one, Havel permitted his friend, filmmaker Pavel Koutecky, to be with him, and to capture as much of his presidency as possible, whether at Prague Castle or around the world. The result is Citizen Havel, a featurelength documentary of never-before-seen footage that provides an intimate look at a man thrust into the spotlight of international politics and celebrity, trying to maintain a balance between public and personal life while bringing his nation out of its communist past and into a free, democratic future. The film includes Václav Havel meeting with President Bill Clinton, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, the Rolling Stones, and many others.

ABOUT THE DIRECTORS:
Pavel Koutecky was born in Prague in 1956. After graduating from the Film and Television School of the Academy of Performing Arts (FAMU) in Prague, and studying at the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield, England, he developed multimedia projects with the Kolotec and Divadlo Hudby theaters in the Czech Republic. He has been a lecturer at FAMU since 1991. Also, he has directed many movies throughout his career, several of which have won awards. Miroslav Janek was born in Nachod, Czechosolvakia, in 1954. Before immigrating to the United States in 1979, he wrote, directed, and produced nearly 40 short films and was an editor for Czechoslovak Television. Then, he lived in Minneapolis for 6 years, where he was a freelance editor and cameraman, taught at Film in the Cities in St. Paul, and produced and directed several independent films. Furthermore, he has worked in New York City and Treviso, Italy. In 1993, he returned to the Czech Republic to work for Czech Television. Currently, he teaches at FAMU. He has worked on many films, of which his biggest success was The Unseen, which has won numerous awards.

AWARDS:
Citizen Havel was released in January 2008. It is the winner of the Plzensky Prazdroj Audience Award, having the best reception from visitors to the One World Festival in Prague. It also was awarded a Special Mention by the main jury in the main competition at One World and was featured as a special screening at the Berlinale 2008 Festival.

TICKET INFORMATION FOR OPENING NIGHT ONLY!
For ticket information, please call (202) 966–3464 or visit www.theavalon.org. Tickets also can be purchased at the box office during box office hours. Admission: Adult $9.75 / Senior, Student, or Military $7

LOCATION
Avalon Theatre, 5612 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20015 The nearest metro station is at the Friendship Heights, approximately, a 15–20 minute walk to the theater.

Thursday, May 15, 6 pm
Goethe-Institut, Admission: Free
Reservations required, please e-mail czech_events@yahoo.com.
For additional questions, contact: (202) 274–9105

Burma´s Secret War, Burma 2008, Burmese student films

Burma’s Secret War

Directed by: Sarah MacDonald/ 2006/ 49 min./ UK/ in English
The film exposes the new surge in violence inflicted on the Burmese people by their own regime. Enslaved by a brutal military dictatorship which wields absolute power, Burma is a secretive state where suppression reigns and dissent is not tolerated. Journalist Evan Williams, who is banned from entering the country after reporting on Burma for more than 10 years, goes undercover to investigate the mass ethnic cleansing, forced labor, and vicious crackdown of political opposition which characterize the dictatorship.

Thursday, May 15, 8:30 pm
Goethe-Institut, Admission: Free
Reservations required, please e-mail czech_events@yahoo.com.
For additional questions, contact: (202) 274–9105

Crime and Punishment (Zui yu Fa)

Directed by: Zhao Liang/ 2007/ 123 min./ China, France/ in Chinese with English subtitles
There is more to today’s China than the hypermodern urban complexes and dazzling sports center which we see in the media. The film Crime and Punishment offers an unexpectedly authentic everyday portrait of the microcosm that is a police station in the border regions, where the impact of China’s economic boom has not been felt. Reinforced units fight crime, though the results are often confused and grotesque despite the diligence of the inexperienced young officers. A mentally ill man calls them out over a corpse he has found in his bed which turns out to be a crumpled duvet. Another man suspected of robbery cannot be made to answer questions, even using violence, because he is most likely dumb. The long and penetrating shots of director Zhao Liang gradually uncover the real human stories and key themes from a China that is both regimented and rapacious. This witty picture, whose comedy often has a chilly edge, provides us with insight into how the social structure
is influenced by omnipresent police repression.

Friday, May 16, 6 pm
Goethe-Institut, Admission: Free
Reservations required, please e-mail czech_events@yahoo.com.
For additional questions, contact: (202) 274–9105

Belarusian Waltz

Directed by: Andrzej Fidyk/ 2007/ 74 min./ Poland/ in Belarusian with English subtitles
Alexander Pushkin is an artist with an unusual specialty: “performances” in which he fights against the Lukashenko dictatorship, which he describes as neo-Stalinist. With humor and wit, he allows himself to be arrested for waving a flag on the main street of Minsk, organizes an exhibition of portraits of forgotten heroes on the steps of the National Gallery, and provocatively hoists a banned flag in his village. He loves everything Belarusian and hates everything Russian, believing that Russification and Sovietization have destroyed his nation’s traditions and threaten its very existence. The situation in Belarus, where Alexander Lukashenko has won three manipulated presidential elections in succession, has led to resignation on the part of the greater part of society. People do not have access to independent media and often—despite the evidence of their own misery—believe government propaganda that their state is prospering. This documentary by renowned Polish director Andrzej Fidyk is also an interesting probe into the life of a remote Belarusian village, and demonstrates that people who are not afraid to stand up to the regime still exist.

Friday, May 16, 8:30 pm
Goethe-Institut, Admission: Free
Reservations required, please e-mail czech_events@yahoo.com.
For additional questions, contact: (202) 274–9105

Ladies in White (Damas de Blanco)

Directed by: Ivana Milošević, 2008, 58 min./ Czech Republic/ in Spanish with English subtitles
Damas de Blanco (Ladies in White) is an organization of mothers, widows, and sisters who are fighting for the release of 75 political prisoners given extremely stiff sentences by the Cuban regime in spring 2003. The women meet every Sunday and hold silent protest marches as an expression of their demand for the immediate freeing of these men, their husbands, sons, and family members. They do not regard themselves as a political movement as they have not overthrown a government or brought about any reform. The European parliament gave the Damas de Blanco the Andrei Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in acknowledgment of their peaceful but determined campaign, which will not end until all of the men have been released from prison. In this film, women tell their own personal stories openly. They discuss what it means to be a woman in Cuba and the impact of having someone close to them labeled as an enemy of the state. However, mainly they speak about their burning desire to see their men freed.

Saturday, May 17, 6 pm
Goethe-Institut, Admission: Free
Reservations required, please e-mail czech_events@yahoo.com.
For additional questions, contact: (202) 274–9105

To See If I’m Smiling

Directed by: Tamar Yarom/ 2007/ 60 min./ Israel/ in Hebrew with English subtitles
Israel is the only country in the world where 18-year-old girls receive a call-up to do compulsory military service. In Tamar Yarom’s engaging film, several former recruits describe their own experiences in the army.

All of them experienced postings in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, where the conflict is most intense. Despite the fact that the women themselves were never direct participants in military operations they have been through situations which spelled the end of their carefree adolescence and have become imprinted in their memories. They are very critical of the fact that they had power in their hands despite their absolute lack of experience. The ex-conscripts speak with unusual openness of the absurdity of the never-ending war between the Israelis and the Palestinians, and explain what it meant for them personally to live surrounded by men. With a sense of catharsis, they admit to doubts about how they dealt with Palestinians at checkpoints.

Saturday, May 17, 8:30 pm
Goethe-Institut, Admission: Free
Reservations required, please e-mail czech_events@yahoo.com.
For additional questions, contact: (202) 274–9105

The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo

Directed by: Lisa F. Jackson/ 2007/ 77 min./ USA
in French, English, and Swahili with English subtitles
The civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the most protracted and forgotten conflicts in the world. Despite the fact that UN peacekeepers are monitoring the observance of a peace deal after years of war, fighting still continues, particularly in the east of the country. The victims of this drawn-out conflict are hundreds of thousands of girls who have suffered extremely brutal mass rapes. Besides frequent health problems, the raped women are often expelled from their own families and shunned by their communities. The conflict also has left behind an entire generation of orphans who were conceived as a result of rape. This provocative film by American documentary-maker Lisa F. Jackson offers disturbing testimony of the lives and suffering of women who have been raped in an impoverished war-torn country. The director looks for the causes of a phenomenon where rape is not only a violent act but also has become a systematic tool for defeating and humiliating one’s enemy. The film contains authentic testimony from the victims of rape but from perpetrators. The director’s sensitive approach to the film’s protagonists is enhanced by the fact that she herself was once brutally raped.

ADMISSION
Admission to the screenings at the Goethe-Institut are free to the public. However, reservations are required. To make reservations, please e-mail czech_events@yahoo.com. Please put “ONE WORLD” in the subject line. If you have further questions, please contact Mary Fetzko at the Embassy of the Czech Republic by calling (202) 274−9105.

LOCATION
Goethe-Institut, 812 Seventh Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001–3718
The nearest metro station to the screenings is Gallery Place/ Chinatown.

EXHIBITION: Spark of Bravery
Embassy of the Czech Republic, Admission: Free
Exhibition can be viewed during Embassy hours.
For additional questions, contact: (202) 274–9105

Photo Exhibition by Alexandr Polo in Cooperation with People in Need
This exhibition consists of 14 portraits of Belarusian dissidents and activists and tells their stories of repression under the authoritarian rule of President Lukashenka, who came to power in 1994 after the reform-minded leader Stanislav Shushkevich was dismissed on false corruption charges. Shushkevich had been in power since September 1991, shortly after Belarus declared independence.

Lukashenka’s rule brought about a return to Soviet-style dictatorship. During his thirteen years in office, Lukashenka has dismissed Western criticism of his leadership, instead focusing on gaining tighter control and influence over all aspects of Belarusian society. His Soviet-era policies and ruthlessness have led the Western media to label him as “the last European dictator.”

Unlike other Eastern and Central European countries, political repression in Belarus is not history, but reality. Belarus was one of the republics of the Soviet Union that suffered the most from Stalinist repression; no Belarusian family was left untouched by the wave of terror. Today’s modern Belarus is known for reviving political imprisonment, incidences of politically-motivated disappearances, and persecution of pro-democracy activists and their families.
The current regime in Belarus violates the constitutional rights of Belarusian citizens in many ways – sometimes similar, sometimes different from the ones that many Czechs remember from the communist era in Czechoslovakia.

Exhibition viewing hours: Monday through Thursday, 10 am–5 pm; Friday, 10 am–3 pm. Please schedule an appointment by calling (202) 274–9105.
On view beginning May 7, 2008 (Ongoing)

PEOPLE IN NEED

People in Need (PIN) is Czech non-profit, non-governmental organization that implements relief and development projects in crisis regions around the world and supports human rights and democracy. PIN has worked in Belarus since 1997, providing financial support for the persecuted, sharing the Czech experience of transformation through study trips and raising awareness of human rights abuses. For more information about Belarus projects see www.peopleinneed.cz or contact bmu@peopleinneed.cz .