By Clare Murphy. The
Irish Times on the Web. September 25, 2000
A Cuban who was granted Irish citizenship two years ago may write to former
South African president Mr Nelson Mandela to tell him of the "apartheid"
in Irish society.
Mr Eladio Alberto Mederos Boggiano, a civil aviation engineer who was
granted political asylum when he came to Ireland from Havana in 1994, said he
has been unable to get a job despite registering with numerous employment
agencies and sending out 100 copies of his curriculum vitae to employers.
"In this country I have found something that I have not found anywhere
else," he said.
"The Irish mentality is that black people are not liked. People here
have a big fear and distrust of black people. I don't know how much more I can
take and only pride is holding me here.
"I would like to write to Nelson Mandela and tell him how I have been
discriminated against and about the kind of apartheid here," he said.
Mr Mederos Boggiano was educated in Russia from 1978 to 1984. He said he
left Cuba after state security attempted to recruit him as an informer in the
early 1990s because he had fluent Russian and English and was married to an
Austrian woman.
He says he lost his job and was harassed out of the country when he refused
to become a security agent.
Ms Mary Glennon, an independent councillor, last week highlighted Mr Mederos
Boggiano's case at Naas Urban District Council. She also told councillors about
an incident she witnessed two weeks ago outside a Naas primary school when young
children began kicking and hitting a doctor who had come to collect his
children.
"The children were very young around six or seven. I found it shocking
because it is the first overt sign of racism that I have ever seen," said
Ms Glennon, who intervened to stop the attack.
"For days afterwards parents who witnessed it were saying to me, 'I
didn't know what to do'," she said.
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