Two Czechs Face Anti-Castro Charges

An ex-Czech finance minister and a former student leader, held in Cuba for meeting anti-Castro dissidents, will be tried for “counterrevolutionary” plotting on behalf of the United States, Havana said. Ivan Pilip, the ex-minister and now a parliamentary deputy, and Jan Bubenik, the former student leader, were arrested at the end of last week in the central province of Ciego de Avila, drawing a protest from Prague and further souring already hostile ties between the onetime socialist bloc allies. The Cuban statement said the pair appeared to be “emissaries” of the U.S.-based Freedom House organization.