Brussels, May 23, 1997

Dear colleague,

at the beginning of October of this year, the Nobel Committee will award its 1997 Peace Prize. We hope that the support and solidarity for Wei Jingsheng's last year nomination (the Sacharov Prize awarded by the European Parliament and the endorsement by nearly 200 of us) will help the Jury to make a decision in that sense.

Without prejudicing this important decision, we believe that the time has come to start a mobilization for the 1998 Peace Prize. For a series of reasons - his personal past and present history of political commitment, the numerous sympathies that he has within our Parliament - we think that it would be important to support Elizardo Sanchez Santa-Cruz's nomination for 1998, and, through that, support the people of Cuba that fight every day for democracy in their country.

With the hope that you will show your support to this initiative, please accept, dear colleague, my best regards

Sincerely

Olvier Dupuis

(General Secretary of the Radical Party)

MEP

PS: Enclosed please find:

* a brief biography of Elizardo Sanchez with the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize nomination form