Northern Irish nationalist
leader Gerry Adams flew into Cuba
on 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.
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 on 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.
A senior Cuban official meeting Adams on 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 has 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 is to place a wreath at a monument to Cuban independence hero
Jose Marti in Havana's imposing Revolution Square 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 a plaque in memory of 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.
By Andrew Cawthorne © MMI Reuters Limited. All Rights Reserved
