The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org. December 19, 2011 Former Czech Leader Vaclav Havel Dead at 75 -------------------------------------------- Former Czech leader Vaclav Havel has died at the age of 75. The former playwright led the "Velvet Revolution" to topple Communist rule. In the 1970s and 1980s, he was jailed repeatedly after he launched Charter 77 asking the Czechoslovak government to abide by its international commitments to human rights. As Czech president, Havel embraced neo-liberal economic policies and supported both U.S. wars in Iraq. .