Continuing a high-profile visit to Cuba that has infuriated Northern Ireland's pro-British unionists, Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams yesterday helped
unveil a Cuban monument to 10 dead Irish republican prisoners.
They starved themselves to death in 1981 protesting Britain's removal of their political prisoner status.
About 150 enthusiastic onlookers and about 30 uniformed schoolchildren gathered to watch the small state affair.
Sergio Corrieri, president of Cuba's Institute of Friendship with Peoples, likened the hunger strikers to five Cubans recently sentenced to lengthy jail terms
by a Miami court for spying on U.S. military bases in Florida.
``Just as the courageous Irish young people did in 1981, today five Cuban young people in the jails of Yankee imperialism face the irrational and pure
hate of a government which has sentenced them to the most severe punishment,'' he said.
Cuba claims the men were trying to thwart anti-Castro Cubans in Miami who are planning terrorist attacks against Cuba.
Adams thanked Cuba for its longtime support of Irish republicanism. Cuban President Fidel Castro has reportedly pledged to Adams that Cuban
schoolchildren will be taught the history of the 1981 Irish hunger strike.
Adams was well received by the locals.
Pedro Rodriguez, 65, said Adams's visit was ``a magnificent event, which draws the two countries together.''
Adams led the assembled schoolchildren in chanting ``Viva Irelandia! Viva Cuba!''
He told the Herald that he knew some Irish-Americans may not approve of his visit here.
``But clearly, whatever people think about Cuba, and whatever may or may not be wrong in this country - and there are no perfect societies anywhere -
the struggle is a very, very popular one,'' he said. ``It could not endure for the time it has endured unless the people were involved.''
He said that, ``unlike Soviet bloc countries like Romania, where it was dreadful, what you see here is some of the best education systems in the world,
which is free. One of the best health services in the world, which is free. And the abolition of illiteracy.''
Adams welcomed American food aid to Cuba, which arrived over the weekend for the first time since the United States began its economic embargo of
Cuba 40 years ago. Cuba was allowed to purchase the food to alleviate shortages caused by Hurricane Michelle last month.
He said ``that, and the spirit with which the Cuban government condemned the September 11th atrocities and offered humanitarian aid to the families of
the victims, I think, is a sign of what could be.''
He said he raised the issues of ``human rights, civil liberties, of religious rights, of democratic rights'' in meetings with Cuban officials.
Five years ago, a United Nations motion condemning Cuba's human rights record was backed by all 15 European union countries. Relations began to
thaw only this month after a Cuban-EU delegation meeting in Havana.
Yesterday's ceremony was attended by Cuban government officials and even a sprinkling of Irish people.
Pat Quinn of Galway, who just happened to be vacationing in Cuba when Adams arrived, said, ``I'm glad Adams came here. The Cuban people have
been friends of the Irish all through our struggle. Revolution is revolution.''
There was even a Bostonian in the crowd. Caitlan Mathers of Brookline, Mass., is in Cuba on a cultural program. She said she didn't know much about
Adams, but was curious about all the commotion and decided to attend the ceremony.
Mathers, 22, called Cuba ``an incredible country with incredibly resourceful people. There's a human spirit I've never seen anywhere in my life.''
She called America's economic embargo of Cuba ``a ridiculous, huge embarrassment. It needs to end.''
In the evening, Adams gave a major speech before the Institute of Friendship with Peoples where he lauded Cuba's accomplishments in health and
education, and then had a closed-door meeting with Castro.
He will depart for Ireland tonight
