Havel, leader of "Velvet Revolution," dies

[Valin]

Reuters:

Michael Winfrey and Robert Muller
Dec 18, 2011

PRAGUE
(Reuters) - Vaclav Havel, a dissident playwright jailed by Communists who became Czech president and a symbol of peace and freedom after leading the bloodless "Velvet Revolution," died at 75 on Sunday.

The former chain smoker died at his country home in Hradecek, north of Prague, of a long respiratory illness after surviving operations for lung cancer and a burst intestine in the late 1990s that left him frail for more than a decade.

The diminutive playwright, who invited the Rolling Stones to medieval Prague castle, took Bill Clinton to a Prague jazz club to play saxophone and was a friend of the Dalai Lama, rose to fame after facing down Prague's communist regime.
(Snip)

[Valin]