Vaclav Havel, the playwright-turned-politician who served as the last president of Czechoslovakia and first president of the Czech Republic, has died at age 75.

Havel, a former chain-smoker who suffered breathing difficulties, died on Sunday morning at his weekend house in the northern Czech Republic.

Paul Wilson was a close friend of Vaclav Havel, and his English Translator. He speaks to Al Jazeera from Ontario in Canada.