 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Sinn Fein leader welcomed in Cuba
By DAVID ADAMS, Times Latin America Correspondent HAVANA -- Ignoring criticism from the United States and Britain, Cuba rolled out the red carpet Monday for Northern Ireland political leader Gerry Adams, welcoming him to the communist island as a fellow revolutionary. Making his first visit here, Adams, the leader of the IRA's political wing, Sinn Fein, responded by calling for an end to the U.S. embargo against Cuba and the normalization of relations between two countries "that have so much in common." Adams recognized that his visit might "present difficulties" with the Bush administration and Sinn Fein's supporters in the United States, but insisted that Cuba had much to teach Ireland and the rest of the world about the struggle for social justice. Thanking his "good friends" in the United States, including President Bush and former President Bill Clinton, for their support during the 3-year-old Northern Ireland peace process, he said he hoped they would understand his position. "Sinn Fein have never felt we have the right to tell any other government -- with the exception of the British government -- what it should do," said Adams, standing outside the palm-ringed offices of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party. But he immediately went on to make an exception for Cuba. "There should be dialogue between Cuba and the United States and the blockade should be ended," he said. After a recent visit to South Africa where he was welcomed by former President Nelson Mandela, Adams is reveling in a newfound role as international statesman. In a busy first day, Adams had talks Monday with three top officials, including Vice President Carlos Lage and the president of the National Assembly, Ricardo Alarcon, who are both viewed as possibly successors to Cuba's aging leader, Fidel Castro. Later, Adams was a guest at the inauguration of 100 newly reconstructed schools, where he exchanged a firm handshake with Castro. The Sinn Fein delegation, which includes the former hunger striker and convicted IRA bomber Gerry Kelly, is expected to have a longer meeting with Castro during the four-day visit. Also ignoring criticism of the trip, Cuban officials say they are grateful for Sinn Fein's political support over the years. "Mr. Adams is a friend of Cuba. Sinn Fein has always shown its solidarity with the people of Cuba," said Oscar Martinez, deputy head of international relations for the Central Committee. "Cuba, for its part, supports the revolutionary struggle of Sinn Fein, which is a just cause," he added. The relationship does not appear to have been hurt by the arrest in Colombia earlier this year of three suspected members of the Irish Republican Army on terrorism charges. The three, who include a former Sinn Fein representative in Havana, Niall Connolly, are accused of training left-wing guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. Sinn Fein has denied the three were acting on behalf of the party. Adams has conceded that Connolly was working in Cuba for one of Sinn Fein's senior executives, but without the party's official approval. Although the case of the three is not part of Adams' agenda in Cuba, he said it was discussed. "I raised the issue of the three Irish men in prison in Colombia and argued that they should be released," he said. He did not explain how Cuba might be able to help in achieving that. The presence of the three men in Colombia is the subject of a U.S. congressional investigation. There is concern among Sinn Fein sympathizers in Congress over possible links between the IRA and the FARC, Latin America's most violent guerrilla group, which has links to drug trafficking. But Cuban officials say they are satisfied by Sinn Fein's official explanation. "That matter has been dealt with," said Martinez. "It is not a subject of this visit." The Irish delegation, which arrived Sunday evening and is being put up at a government protocol residence, began the visit by laying a wreath in Havana's Revolution Square at a monument to Cuba's independence hero, Jose Marti. It was an odd sight as Adams, elected to the British Parliament, stood solemnly while the ceremonial band of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces played the Irish national anthem. There were lighter moments. During a museum tour, Adams heard how Marti, a poet, wrote the verses immortalized in the Cuban song Guantanamera. There were laughs all around when Adams, pointing to another Sinn Fein delegate, told the museum director, "He can sing it very well." Today Adams is due to unveil a commemorative stone to honor the 10 IRA prisoners who died during a 1981 hunger strike at the Maze prison in Northern Ireland. The Sinn Fein visit has attracted little public attention in Cuba so far, where local news continues to be dominated by the sentencing in a Miami court of five convicted Cuban spies. Cuba says the spies were sent on a legitimate mission to infiltrate Cuban-American "terror" groups in Miami to protect the island from exiles' attacks. The Sinn Fein visit has also been overshadowed by Sunday's arrival in the port of Havana of the first shipment of food purchased from the United States in almost 40 years. The food sale was approved under a new law passed by Congress last year lifting the embargo on food and medicine.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
