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Focuses on Slovakia's political secession from Czechoslovakia. Statement that Czechoslovakia was in the process of centrifugal collapse after the resignation of President Vaclav Havel; Contrast between Czechs' election of Vaclav Klaus as their prime minister and Slovaks' preference for Vladimir Meciar; Difference between Czechs' and Slovaks' histories; View of Slovaks that Czechs did not keep their promises of autonomy in 1918 and 1945; Belief of Czechs that Slovaks have twice abandoned the Czechoslovak democracy to its sad destiny in the name of their narrowly defined national interest; Comparison between the breakup of Czechoslovakia and that of Yugoslavia.

This article deals with the outcome of the first multi-party elections in Czechoslovakia on June 5-6, 1992. The elections confirm that the two republics are heading in opposite and irreconcilable directions. In Czech lands, free-market reform parties won, but were eliminated by the nationalist Left in Slovakia. The only redeeming international reaction to the results of the elections came from Cuba. According to the Cuban newspaper "Trabajadores," Vladimir Meciar's Movement for a Democratic Slovakia is the only power in Czechoslovakia that is has the ability to stop economic reform and the privatization program of federal Finance Minister Vaclav Klaus.