From: Robert Cox <rcox@convex.UUCP>
Subject: Dubcek dies
Originator: rcox@mozart.convex.com
Date: Sun, 8 Nov 1992 16:05:08 GMT
Reply-To: rcox@convex.UUCP (Robert Cox)
Organization: Engineering, CONVEX Computer Corp., Richardson, Tx., USA
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by a user at CONVEX Computer
              Corp. The opinions expressed are those of the user and
              not necessarily those of CONVEX.

Alexander Dubcek dies in Prague at 70 

(From Reuters News Service) 

Prague, Czechoslovakia -- Alexander Dubcek, leader of the ill-fated 1968
"Prague Spring" reform movement in Czechoslovakia, died Saturday two 
months after he suffered severe injuries in an automobile accident, the 
Czech minister of health said. "Despite the best available care, a failure 
of vital organ occurred," Petr Lom told the official news agency CSTK.  
Mr. Dubcek, 70, was hospitalized Sept 1 after his car crashed in heavy 
rain on the Prague-Bratislava highway.  The radio said he died in 
Prague's Na Homolce hospital. 

Mr. Dubcek sustained spinal and chest injuries in the car crash and was 
airlifted to the hospital by helicopter.  He was in shock, and his internal
organs were damaged.  After initial surgery to relieve pressure on his 
spinal cord, he regained conciousness and communicated with the medical 
staff and visitors.  But his condition deteriorated, and doctors had to 
shelve plans to have him transfered to another Czechoslovak clinic or to 
Bologna, Italy. 

In Little Rock, Ark., President-elect Bill Clinton said he was saddened 
by Mr. Dubcek's death.  "I am glad he lived to see the emergence of demo-
cracy in eastern Europe," Mr. Clinton said.  "My prayers are with his 
family, friends, the people of his country and all those who admired him." 

Mr. Dubcek lived in enforced seclusion for 20 years after a Soviet-led 
invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968 crushed his attempt to install
"socialism with a human face."  While widely praised abroad, Mr. Dubcek
was bitterly criticized at home, particularly by right-wing politicians
and the news media who said he had failed to stand up to the Soviet Union 
in 1968.  They blamed him for the stationing of hated Soviet troops in 
Czechoslovakia for the next 23 years. 

His supporters said he had paid with bitter experience on the road to 
adopting Social Democratic leanings, and he had always remained faithful
to leftist views.  He returned to public life in 1989 during the "Velvet
Revolution" that restored democracy to Czechoslovakia and was appointed
chairman of the federal Parliament, where he spent more than two years,
overseeing the slow and often painful march toward democracy. After 
elections last June he returned to Parliament as leader of Slovakia's 
Social Democratic Party. 

Even after it became clear that his injuries would not allow him to 
resume his parliamentary duties, officials of his party, Slovakia's 
Social Democrats, said they still considered him their leader.  With
his native Slovakia heading for independence, Mr. Dubcek was often 
mentioned as a possible candidate for the Slovak presidency.  According
to a poll published three days ago, he still ranked second to Slovak 
prime minister Vladimir Meciar as the most favored candidate for the 
presidency. 

Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU