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OAS Secretary General Sends His Condolences on the Passing of Vaclav Havel

  December 20, 2011

The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, lamented the death of Vaclav Havel, former President of the Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic, and sent his condolences to the family of the Czech leader, and to the people and government of that country.

“With the death of Vaclav Havel the Czech Republic loses a father and the world loses one of the greatest symbols of democracy in the last decades. Love and respect for freedom, values and principles marked the actions of an extraordinary humanist to whom history turned into a first-class politician,” said Secretary General Insulza.

“His fight for democracy, his role in the Velvet Revolution, key to the arrival of democracy in Eastern Europe, and his decided yet open-to-dialogue leadership as President, first of Czechoslovakia and later of the Czech Republic, are examples of an intelligent and effective leadership,” he added.

“Our memories are with his family and with all of the Czech people, because his loss is also ours,” concluded the head of the OAS.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-1019/11