Posted on 12/17/2001 12:24:59 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
HAVANA - Northern Irish nationalist leader Gerry Adams flew into Cuba Sunday to thank communist President Fidel Castro for his traditional backing of the struggle for a united Ireland without British rule.
On a three-day visit that could irk Washington, Adams, who heads the Irish Republican Army's political ally Sinn Fein, said he was "very happy" to be in Cuba and was looking forward to unveiling a plaque in Havana to commemorate the 20th anniversary of a 1981 Irish republican hunger strike.
"When the 10 hunger strikers died, there was strong support from Cuba, and especially from President Fidel Castro," Adams said, according to a Spanish-language translation of his comments made in Gaelic at Havana airport.
Ordinary Cubans sometimes know little of the details of the Irish conflict, but often express sympathy for the fight against British rule in Northern Ireland, saying the Irish, like them, have been victims of "imperialist" meddling.
Adams will probably meet Castro, in power for nearly 43 years since his 1959 Cuban Revolution, during his stay on the Caribbean island which includes talks with other senior communist leaders and visits to medical sites.
Although Adams said he was unconcerned about any possible adverse reaction in the United States to his presence in Cuba - - with whom Washington cut ties four decades ago -- his visit risks awakening controversy.
Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, left, speaks to the media, Sunday, Dec.16, 2001, as he arrives at Jose Marti Airport of Havana, Cuba. During his four-day-visit Adams plans to focus on remembering participants of a dramatic IRA hunger strike 20 years ago and to meet with Cuban President Fidel Castro and other Cuban officials. He will also visit a local hospital and university. (AP Photo/Jose Goitia)
Three suspected IRA members, including one, Niall Connolly, who was the left-leaning Sinn Fein's representative in Cuba, are currently jailed in Colombia suspected of training Marxist FARC rebels there whom the United States labels "terrorists."
The U.S. government cautioned in September that an Adams trip to Cuba would raise "troubling questions" if it turned out the IRA had links to the FARC guerrillas.
An anti-Castro newspaper in the United States, the Miami- based El Nuevo Herald, ran a headline Sunday saying "Leader of Irish terrorist group goes to Havana."
Sinn Fein has been striving to build up its political standing in the United States, where it draws considerable financial support from Irish-Americans who back its opposition to British rule in Northern Ireland.
NO REPLACEMENT FOR CONNOLLY IN CUBA
A senior Cuban official meeting Adams Sunday said Sinn Fein had not yet decided to replace Connolly in Havana. "For now, there's no-one," said Oscar Martinez, deputy head of the Foreign Relations Department of the Central Committee of Cuba's ruling Communist Party.
Martinez said Cuba had excellent relations with Sinn Fein.
"It's a very important visit to us because Gerry Adams is a great friend of Cuba. He has always supported the Cuban Revolution," Martinez said. "We support their struggle for a political, negotiated solution" (to the Irish conflict).
Underlining Cuba's warm welcome, the ruling communist party in its daily newspaper Granma said Adams' visit "comes in the context of cordial relations and friendship which exists between both parties."
Adams was due to place a wreath at a monument to Cuban independence hero Jose Marti in Havana's imposing Revolution Square early Monday, before meeting vice-president Carlos Lage and parliamentary president Ricardo Alarcon, Castro's point man on U.S. affairs.
Tuesday, he is scheduled to unveil the plaque to the hunger-strikers in a Havana park. Those being commemorated stopped eating after being refused status as political prisoners in the Maze prison near Belfast.
Adams noted similar commemorations had already taken place in Australia, South Africa and the United States.
--Senator Christopher Dodd, pictured here with Gerry Adams and Senator Ted Kennedy, is blocking President George Bush's pick to be assistant secretary of state for Western Hemispheric Affairs WHILE CARACUS BURNS Sen. Dodd's petulance threatens national security--[Exceprt] Mr. Dodd knows that Mr. Reich would be confirmed if he got to the Senate floor, which is why he wants to block even a hearing. He and Latin America aide Janice O'Connell bear a grudge against the Cuban-American going back to their days on opposite sides of the battle over Central America. But rather than face that difference squarely, Mr. Dodd's strategy has been to smear Mr. Reich's reputation, accusing him in a letter to this paper of, among other things, being soft on terrorism. U.S. officials say the public record refutes those charges, which may be why Mr. Dodd doesn't want Mr. Reich to get his chance to make his case in the Senate.
We keep wondering when Mr. Dodd's Democratic betters are going to call him to account for such behavior. It'd be nice to know, for example, how Florida Democrats Bob Graham and Bill Nelson feel about this treatment of a Cuban American. Tom Daschle recently met with Mr. Reich, but the majority leader has been reluctant to overrule his party's junior barons when they get the bit in their mouths.
Mr. Bush has the recourse of a recess appointment for Mr. Reich once the Senate leaves town. Given the worsening state of Latin America, and Mr. Dodd's irresponsibility, the President can justify such a move in the urgent national interest. [End Excerpt]
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FREE OTTO "I need Otto Reich in place," Secretary of State Colin Powell pleaded with senators on October 3. Eight weeks later, Reich's State Department office literally remains empty, its desk unoccupied and bookshelves bare. Even as an overworked career diplomat juggles crucial security and economic matters in Reich's absence, Dodd could care less.
"That nomination's not going anywhere. That's the end of it," Dodd recently snapped. He has hurled at Reich a number of easily refuted ethical charges pertaining to his 1980s service as director of State's Office of Public Diplomacy and as Ambassador to Venezuela. However Dodd will not let his subcommittee hear Reich defend himself. Perhaps Dodd fears looking foolish once Reich demonstrates his innocence.
President Bush scrupulously has maintained a bipartisan tone as he prosecutes the war on terror. In November alone, he ignored conservatives who begged him to campaign with the GOP's now-defeated gubernatorial candidates, Virginia's Mark Earley and New Jersey's Bret Schundler. He signed Democratic legislation to nationalize airport-security employees. In a touching gesture, he even renamed the Justice Department's headquarters after Democratic icon Robert F. Kennedy.
It's high time the "Gimmecrats" gave something back. With Otto Reich at his side, Bush should walk into the White House press room and remind his loyal opposition that bipartisanship - especially to crush regional terrorists - should be a two-way street, not a Republican alley beside a Democratic freeway. President Bush personally should invest some of his abundant political capital to win Senate confirmation of an experienced, principled diplomat who will toil to keep America's neighborhood peaceful, prosperous, and free. [End Excerpt]
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Bush nominee deserves better than old grudges [Excerpt]As America embarks on a long-term war against international terrorism, it is essential that President Bush have his foreign policy team in place. Unfortunately, one Democratic senator is still fighting the Cold War and is settling old ideological scores by blocking Senate action on a key State Department nominee.
Otto Reich was nominated on July 12 to be assistant secretary of state for Western Hemispheric Affairs. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has not even bothered to schedule Fa confirmation hearing for Reich, and has no plans to do so. The reasons have nothing to do with Reich's competence or qualifications, and everything to do with Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd's affinity for Cuba's Fidel Castro and the communist Sandanista regime in Nicaragua. [End Excerpt]
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That would require thinking,something they are incapable of doing. Having said that,it's a wonder Fat Teddy isn't mad he hasn't been invited to Cuba to get a award himself for all the work he has done to push communist ideals in the US.
I expect the next recipient to be Marxist Hugo Chavez.
Venezuela's Chavez Approves Economy Laws (confiscation of private land)
why haven't any of the pro-irish freepers condemned this? (i know - it's different when the ira cuddles up to disgusting people.)
Because it is a similiar situation to the American Jews and Israel. Most of these cretins were born and have lived in the US all their lives,yet they consider themselves to be Irishmen. When you add the religious (Catholic) aspect to the cultural aspect,they just ain't gonna touch it. They had rather sing and cry about the "old sod",and how the British screwed them. All they need is a Irish Sharpton to be professional victims.
MY opinion is that if they want to be Irish,they need to get the hell out of MY country,and go to Ireland.
Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, left, and Gerry Kelly, a former member of the IRA participate visit the the Jose Marti Memorial after an official ceremony at the Revolution Plaza in Havana, Cuba, Monday, Dec. 17, 2001. Adams placed a wreath Monday at a monument to Cuban independence leader Jose Marti as he began a four-day trip expected to include a visit with President Fidel Castro. (AP Photo/Jose Goitia)
Another classic post!! Whew! Took a college degree to come up with that one...
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