Monika Unsworth. The
Irish Times, December 18, 2001
The SDLP chairman, Mr Alex Attwood, has criticised the Sinn Féin
president's trip to Cuba, describing it as "ill-timed and ill-judged"
in the aftermath of September 11
Mr Gerry Adams yesterday arrived on the Caribbean island for a three-day
visit which will include a meeting with the country's leader, Dr Fidel Castro,
possibly today. The Sinn Féin president, accompanied by the party's North
Belfast MLA, Mr Gerry Kelly , is to unveil a memorial to the IRA and INLA
hunger-strikers who died in the Maze Prison in 1981.
Mr Attwood said Mr Adams and his colleagues were entitled to meet whomever
they wanted, wherever they wanted. However, "people will note that, be it
the Colombian adventure or the visit to Cuba, Sinn Féin seek out those
who deny political debate and dissent".
People in the US were angry at Sinn Féin's Cuban trip, the SDLP
chairman added. "In the aftermath of September 11th, the visit is, at the
very least, considered ill-timed and ill-judged. The fall-out from Colombia and
Cuba will be substantial and enduring, in America and in Ireland," he said.
An Ulster Unionist MLA, Dr Esmond Birnie, also criticised the visit, saying
Mr Adams's "whiskey and cigars with Castro" were an indication of Sinn
Féin's fundamentally anti-democratic outlook.
"Mr Adams's fraternisation with the leader of one of the world's
bloodiest and worst dictatorships speaks volumes for Sinn Féin's repeated
claims to support democracy and exclusively peaceful politics," he added.
US politicians last week expressed their unhappiness at the Sinn Féin
trip, with the Republican congressman, Mr Peter King, describing it as a
mistake. The arrest of the party's representative in Cuba, Mr Niall Connolly, in
Colombia as one of a trio of Irish republicans accused of training left-wing
FARC guerrillas in the country, has contributed to criticism of the visit.
Adams visit 'honours' country, says Castro For more Northern Ireland
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Sinn Féin leader Mr Gerry Adams has met the Cuban president, Mr Fidel
Castro, in the Cuban capital of Havana.
Adams was met by Castro at an outdoor educational event. "He [Mr Adams]
honours us with his visit to our country," Castro said, as they met.
Mr Adams deflected criticism over his visit to the island and called on
Washington to end its 40-year-old sanctions against Cuba.
On Monday, Adams had laid a wreath to Cuba's 19th century independence hero,
Jose Marti, in Havana's Revolution Square and praised the social achievements of
four decades of socialism on the island of 11 million.
The Sinn Féin president called for talks between the people of Cuba
and the United States. He said the economic blockade should end, noting Sinn Féin's
view coincided with a recent UN General Assembly vote to condemn the US trade
embargo.
Adams's three-day visit to Havana has also focused attention on the case of
the three Irishmen in state custody in Colombia accused of training Marxist FARC
rebels.
Washington, which labels the FARC a terrorist group, warned in September
that an Adams trip to Cuba would raise troubling questions if it turned out the
IRA had links to the FARC guerrillas.
Adams repeated Sinn Féin's position that the three men in Colombia
should be released, while also emphasising that his party values Washington's
support for the Irish peace process.
Adams is expected to have a separate, longer meeting with Castro before his
departure on Wednesday. He is in Cuba to unveil a plaque in Havana to the 1981
Northern hunger strikers, 10 of whom died in the protest, and to thank Castro
for his support during those times.
© 2001 The Irish Times | 
