The Galway councillor who proposed building a statue to Che Guevara in the Irish city has accused American opponents of interfering in Irish affairs.
Billy Cameron has insisted that the West of Ireland is quite entitled to celebrate Guevara’s Irish heritage.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the powerful head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has written to the Irish Prime Minister asking that the statue be stopped.
Ros-Lehtinen called the proposal ‘an outrage’ in a statement to the Huffington Post.
She said: “Despite the image makeover which some try to give him, the real Che Guevara was a mass murderer and human rights abuser.
“To honor him with a monument would be an outrage, and would be a futile attempt to hide the brutal acts which he committed.
Responding to the growing criticism in America, Galway City Councillor Cameron stated: “Everybody who has spoken out on this issue is within their rights to voice their objections.
“But the project was given the full and unanimous support of the council. I honestly think this has been blown out of all proportion.
“The project commemorates Guevara’s Irish ancestry. The Galway connection was established some years ago.
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“He’s related to two of the Galway tribes, the Lynches and the Blakes. We want to celebrate somebody from our historic past.”
Cameron made his remarks as a second American politician went to war with the Galway City Council over their plans to erect a statue to Guevara in the city.
Florida based Representative Mario Diaz-Balart has joined the Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in slamming the plans.
Rep. Ros-Lehtinen has led the charge against plans by the Council to honor Guevara’s ancestral links with the West of Ireland.
She said: “Instead of honoring a killer, the City Council of Galway should honor the victims of Che and the Castro dictatorship by rejecting this proposal.”
“The romanticizing image that this monument would portray would serve to diminish the brutality that was committed by Che and the painful suffering endured by many Cuban-American families and his other victims far and wide. Che Guevara was a ruthless killer who should not be idealized.”
Florida Rep. Diaz-Balart has also blasted the council’s proposal.
“Galway is a city where people have the right to vote, the right to worship freely, the right to speak freely, and access a free press– all of which Che Guevara and his murderous associate, dictator Fidel Castro, ruthlessly suppressed,” he said.
“Having a memorial to this cruel assassin is a shameful affront to the thousands of Cubans he murdered and utterly ignores the truth of who Che Guevara actually was.
“A memorial to this despicable individual is a shameful slap in the face to the victims, whose lives he so ruthlessly extinguished, their families, and the millions of Cubans who still suffer under the effects of his deplorable acts.
“I am confident that if the people of Galway know the well-documented horrors inflicted by Che Guevara, they will be disgusted by the prospect of erecting a monument to that monster.”
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.POL O L | Aug 03, 2012, 11:53 AM EDT
I read this here in Eire and fell around laughing. Some R Rep King sort of stated that if it is erected U S Business may want to pull out etc.Get a life.Mandella=Terrorist.Gandhi=Terrorist.Michael Collins=Terrorist,Do some forget these things?They were all freedom fighters.
seanomelb | Mar 29, 2012, 10:48 PM EDT
Castro overthrew the repressive Batista regime.He (Batista)aligned himself with the landed gentry and suspended the 1940 constitution.Batista like his cohorts in central and south America were U.S. puppets.The U.S. did not give a dam about the basic human rights of others and are culpable in the murder of thousands of people south of the Rio Grande to Tierra Del fuega.Socialism was their way out of the shackles of American tyranny I suppose one could make a case that the U.S. brought communism to the Caribbean by it's tyranny and intransigence.
BrianO | Mar 29, 2012, 09:27 AM EDT
I'll consider the source when told what is valid Seano. Since this thread has to do with the revolutionary genius of Che and the pro communist movement, why not turn over all your wealth to your government, so they can redistribute it to the proper sources. Live the simple life of a Cuban national, do your assigned labor collect your bag of rice and beans. If you believe the communist way is the best, stop complaining and jettison your capital, live the dream.
seanomelb | Mar 28, 2012, 07:12 PM EDT
Collins sent his death squad out to shoot (11?) Brit secret service agents during the tan war.The US sent its death squad to kill Bin Laden and so on.Make a valid point instead of condoning death squads that you favour,BrianO.
BrianO | Mar 28, 2012, 12:05 PM EDT
Did Michael Collins have death squads? Che opposed free elections that's progressive. Che was also a total failure as a leader. Anyone can be remade to a useful tool for the communists, beware idealistic freedom lovers you are the target. Think for yourself.
IrelandNorth | Mar 28, 2012, 06:42 AM EDT
Nice to have the socioeconomic luxury of being "outraged" (sic) about the erection (ahem!) of a statue to a great revolutionary leader on a par with such great American Revolutionaries as George Washington and Paul Revere, who did chased their Redcoats out of South America. Republican America has lost its way. Ireland doesn't need codependent tourism. You're all welcome, of course. But it's impolite to set preconditions. Ernesto 'Che' Guevara was a Sth. American Michael Collins. Viva la revolucion, mi amigos!
NickOHara | Mar 27, 2012, 10:34 PM EDT
So many so-and-so's complaining over a statue of Che ... Saying he is such and so of a demon ... What would they like instead ? ... A statue of Augusto Pinochet ? Hitler ? ... or the [unmentionable] 'Swine' who whipped and starved the poor off their own ancestral homes ? Huffington Post , my eye ... What is going on in YOUR OWN backyard?
ciaradexy | Mar 27, 2012, 01:26 PM EDT
Murph, 2 Irish politicans went to the US for Paddys day and they were INVITED over.
ciaradexy | Mar 27, 2012, 01:24 PM EDT
Dickmc-dick by name, dick by nature. Stop being so here are more Anti-catholics in Ireland than you even know. Che had no influence on that.
BrianO | Mar 27, 2012, 12:32 PM EDT
So many communist today. Do any of you own anything?
seagreen | Mar 27, 2012, 08:59 AM EDT
Citizenwhy makes a valid point! We are presently training thugs and killers for the US friendly elements in South America in Georgia, Every country has a segment of government people with an international agenda.. There are Irish that show up in Washington looking for money. There are Americans willing to give it to them providing the US is allowed to use Shannon Airport as if it were Andrews Air Force Base. There are Irish that howled in protest on RTE when it was suggested that Ireland make a donation to Katrina "America has enough millionaires" (it was not about the money, it was the gesture) this was at the height of the Celtic Tiger ! The Americans have such a wonderful history in South America. The meat packing companies I.E., Swift and Co. Wilson Beef etc in Rosario, Argentina in the 1930's buying local politicians and fermenting discord and death due to their tactics. United Fruit in Central America, again using local bought off politicians to do what they damn well pleased, and of course that great guy Pinochet (Americas guy) in Chile disposing of the duly elected Salvador Allende (so American corporations could control Chilean minerals) We now have the new Irish in America, they are flying their Irish flags alongside their American flags on their waterfront property in Scituate and Cape Cod. Their father was probably driving a bus in Dorchester 50 years ago, but they are now arch conservatives! There is a foreseeable end to the Irish attatchment to the US, that began with what are now Irish 40 yr. olds and younger. Many so called Irish Americans would get a rude awakening visiting Ireland today. Che Guevera came from wealth and priviledge, anything he did was not for the money, which is more than some of his violent critics could ever understand, Whatever Che did, he was a punk compared to the foreign policy that America has exerted on the world for the past sixty years. So if Ireland wants to build a statue, it is their business
VonLiebenitz | Mar 27, 2012, 01:04 AM EDT
I,m not quite sure which is a bigger outrage.Putting up a statue of Che Guevara arguably a controversial subject no matter what side you take or inviting the biggest mass murderer in all history.The Queen of England.
CHICANODEAZTLAN | Mar 26, 2012, 09:14 PM EDT
No one, but no one..., who is NOT a citizen of Ireland or of any country, has the right to tell any sovereign nation how to run it's own internal affairs! What arrogance! What gall! American Republican Congresspeople Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz Balart, two of the most extremist rabid rightwing exiled anti-Castro "Cuban" Americans have no business telling what statues Ireland can or can not erect! I ask ALL decent Irish citizens to TOTALLY ignore these two interloping clowns and erect the statue of Comandante de la Revolucion Cubana..., or whatever statue Ireland wants to erect! ...That's your own right as a sovereign citizen of your own country! Again, I repeat..., it's your own home and NOT of those "Cuban" Americans"! HASTA LA VICTORIA SIEMPRE! LA LUCHA CONTINUA! (TILL VICTORY FOREVER! THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES!) - E.F. Mohammed Martinez - Chicano Anti-Fascist Freedom Fighter - Spear of the Aztlan National Congress
AlunPalmer | Mar 26, 2012, 09:09 PM EDT
Well, they would be upset about a statue of Dr. Ernesto 'Che' Guevara Lynch, wouldn't they? Yes, I have his name right, the second to last name is the surname in the Spanish custom, and he was a doctor of medicine, who first got involved with the rebels by treating them as a doctor. The Americans were the ones who had him killed, after all. His friend Castro was a man of many flaws, but he was an enormous improvement over the American's stooge, Juan Bautista, who committed atrocities that would make your toes curl. Castro may have locked up his enemies without trial, but Bautista tortured and maimed his enemies.
Towngate | Mar 26, 2012, 09:01 PM EDT
manhatton@09.23 should know that with many family members and friends in the Americanias,that this Commenters remarks reflect the love felt for the USA. What I don't like is the way it feels it has to bomb and bully its way around the world, and it's appalling human rights abuses. Remind yourself exactly what happened at the Bay of Pigs, and where the Americanian Guantanimo Bay Torture Centre is! >>> colkelley @09.30 resorts to racist remarks and reminds us that the 'drunken stumblebums' who built the place, only succeeded in constructing a very (quote:)"dark,moist, smelly place".>>> jamieLM @09.51. Hi! I usually like your comments, but here I find you claiming to speak for the 'vast majority of American(ian)s' who don't care who Ireland honours with a statue or memorial.You could have shown some class and sophistication, honey, by just leaving it at that, without resorting to xenophobic insults too. For your information, the Irish countryside, towns and cities are a-wash with statuary to an array ofIrish and British heros; both animal and human! We like it that way, and don't welcome outside interference in who or what we choose to honour and respect in our own country.
dickmac | Mar 26, 2012, 09:00 PM EDT
We Irish Americans have been interfering in Irish affairs for years for the GOOD of Ireland and not supporting this outrage of support for an Anti Catholic Communist.
KevinKehoe | Mar 26, 2012, 08:04 PM EDT
This might wake some people up the real horrors and truth which you won't see on American TV. For some reason they don't want you to see. Ask yourself why after watching. For those in the US you can see it on Youtube. A documentuary by John Pilger called "the war you don't see" Be warned its shocking to witness, and perhaps you might understand why there were Revolutionary's like Che Guevara.
Woodman | Mar 26, 2012, 07:41 PM EDT
They should put up a Charles Manson statue instead.
Searlit | Mar 26, 2012, 06:56 PM EDT
Pity these politicians don't have anything better to do with their time in office collecting fat paychecks.
adrienrain | Mar 26, 2012, 06:49 PM EDT
Maybe the US politicians would rather their Latin American puppet dictators - like Bautista (whom Guevara helped to depose) - or the Mafiosi who ran the place before the revolution, would be honored by the Irish.
seanomelb | Mar 26, 2012, 05:50 PM EDT
Typical American politicians interfering in the affairs of other countries,The same pollies have the blood of innocent people on their hands the hypocrites...a bunch of whiners.
Sean Sheehan | Mar 26, 2012, 05:33 PM EDT
I am a veteran and American. No matter what Che´, did it pales to the cumulative grief the US has caused south of our borders in the name of corporate control of foriegn economies. At least Che´ had social justice in mind. IF Che´, does some good for Galway good for Galway.
Murph46 | Mar 26, 2012, 05:32 PM EDT
If you want the US to stay out of Irish affairs stop your 17 politicians from coming to the US on St.Patrick's day with their hands out begging for US dollars.The US has provided more aid for thirld world nations (like Ireland)than anyone in the world.We can find others to bail out!
MCCOLGAN1492 | Mar 26, 2012, 05:08 PM EDT
How about a statue for old Dick Cheney??? Put it right in Western Ireland , he has alot in common with the local population... Mean and Nasty.... Burn't one heart out being a nasty SOB now he has a brand spankin new 37yr old heart... Imagine the damage he will get done before he meets his maker, Satan....
Scrivner | Mar 26, 2012, 04:49 PM EDT
I think that it would be right aplpropriate next to the monument to Willliam of Orange.
fiddlinvet | Mar 26, 2012, 04:12 PM EDT
This is strictly a business that the city of Galway and its inhabitants have to decide. The US govt better take care of their own problems and not waste time on stuff that is none of their business. Nice job diverting from internal politics....as usual
staker42 | Mar 26, 2012, 03:59 PM EDT
Yes America should stay out of Irish affairs. That should include revoking all visa to Irish pols coming to America for help. It is amazing to me how Ireland is so willing to come to America for assistance but wHen we raise our voice over an offensive statue you don't want to hear from us.
ballyhip | Mar 26, 2012, 03:47 PM EDT
Che's image over a shamrock. I can see the first tee shirt but then again someone probably has it out already.
ProudCanadian | Mar 26, 2012, 03:16 PM EDT
Brian0 we have all the freedom and liberty we need in Canada thank you very much, we defeated you once and we can fight you again if we have to. Seeing that the US is one of the biggest war nations in the world but we would rather that you stay out of our busness also. They aren't coming to prosper legally that is for sure,most are criminals, have you checked your jails.
pebopeep | Mar 26, 2012, 03:02 PM EDT
I read some story on here about the US Ireland Alliance a few days ago. They are lookin for 5 million dollars from US taxpayers? Then turn around and put statues of mass killers up in their parks. I think it would be best to just part ways, The Irish and The Irish Americans.I see them at woodbury commons in NY . Stuffing their bags full of Jeans and designer garbage clothing. Then go home and put up a statue of Che. What a laugh. Stay home , let us keep our 5 million dollars, and all the other dollars as well. Then you can put up a statue of che, or Hitler, or Stalin , while you all sit around and laugh at the Irish Americans who are celebrating St Pat's.Trust me, its not you folks we are celebrating. Its our own people, Irish Americans who came here. Different class of people to the Che Statue crowd. Oh and if your "Horrified" at the Irish in America because of the way we act on St Pats, rest easy. It has nothin to do with you. Same way your murderous Che Idol has nothin to do with up. I say put it up !!!!
PhlutiePhan | Mar 26, 2012, 02:58 PM EDT
As someone who served in the Caribbean with the U.S. Navy, I can tell you that reality states that dictators were necessary at one time. Che was a cold blooded Communist who even served with the Cubans in African campaigns of liberation. He was very good at what he did which was based on an immoral view of the evolution of history. These Cuban politicians saw Communism first hand as I did for six weeks to training at G-Mo. The Democratic Party has reached out to and has been infiltrated by Godless Communism. The Republicans are the lesser of two evils. The forcing on Catholics of the contraception/abortion mandate is parallel to what has happened through the years in Castro's Cuba. It is exactly the same and it is obvious that Obama has been influenced greatly by such as Guevara.
CitizenWhy | Mar 26, 2012, 02:42 PM EDT
It is very difficult for the US to own up to its nasty colonial history in Latin America, squashing moderate middle class revolutions, mild land reforms, and efforts to provide some equity for the poor, all in the name of anti-Communism. You would think the US policy of favoring an entrenched upper class and its servant military would end with the collapse of world communism, but the School of the Americas, funded by and run by the US on US territory, continues to train Latin America's military in "counter-terrorism" which simply means operating death squads and squashing reformers. Naturally the Irish, and those of Irish parentage anywhere, tend to see the US as imitating the worst of the British Empire. But many Irish-Americans would be stalwart backers of US repressive policies in Latin America. In fact many Iriush-Americans back the introduction of far right policies and police state powers in the US. Very sad.
Ken from Dublin | Mar 26, 2012, 02:03 PM EDT
These foreign politicians have some condescending cheek trying to tell us - an independent sovereign state - what to do in our private affairs! Imagine Irish politicians ringing the White House voicing objections to the erection of a statue to war criminal George Bush snr or his son George (Uday) Bush, they would be rightfully laughed at and told to mind their own f*cking business. We have to grow up as a nation and stop accepting the head patting and finger wagging from these bigger and longer established countries, whether it be Europe or America.
FastEddy | Mar 26, 2012, 01:35 PM EDT
A murder now has statuary ... Can't you let the pigeons take care of it?
peggydf | Mar 26, 2012, 01:19 PM EDT
"...leading US politicians"? Seriously? The ones cited in this article are hardly movers and shakers in the political arena. And in addition to that, they have no right to dictate what goes on in another country. This non-story deserves to be buried.
EphraimKibbey | Mar 26, 2012, 01:03 PM EDT
@seagreen - Thanks for the history lesson. Please remember that facts have no place in the emotional outbursts of Republican Politicians. You can talk yourself blue about the evils of the dictators we have supported and the righteous efforts of the people to overthrow them and they will still be blinded by the fear of the other and their own materialism. They would have been the Tories chased out of America during our revolution even though they now wrap themselves in Old Glory.
Hollywoodbabble | Mar 26, 2012, 12:50 PM EDT
Che Guevera was a murderer. Why would anyone romanticize a communist thug who shot citizens he didn't agree with in the head. Where has socialism or communism worked? It hasn't. Over and over again it has not only failed, but ruined generations of people. And yet, so many continue as if we have no evidence. Russia? Cuba? North Korea? And for those who say China is working... if people forced to have abortions while earning a dollar a day is working to you than you need to set your sights higher.
GeorgeDillon | Mar 26, 2012, 12:38 PM EDT
I'm pretty much a "Don't Care"on this statue, though I incline to thinking that a statue to someone with links to Galway--Humanity Dick or Liam O'Flaherty or Padraig O Conaire, for examples--would be a better use of people's money. But SeamusMor's hope that "The statue will put Galway on the world map" has to be the most ludicrous statement I've seen on this site for quite a while. What? People are going to say "This year we had intended to take a Caribbean cruise, but we've decided to go to Galway Ireland instead to see the Che statue..." SeamusMor, are you for real?
JBRAFTREE | Mar 26, 2012, 12:36 PM EDT
Mr. Cameron needs to re-think his stance on proposing this.
BrianO | Mar 26, 2012, 11:38 AM EDT
Glorious and Free, What will you do proudcanadian when it's time to stand guard for thee, will you be standing guard for your forefathers who allowed you to live, fat and happy, or complain and moan of the inequities of freedom and the wonders of some utopia dreamed. Why did and do people board makeshift rafts and cross the open ocean to try to escape cuba and hopefully get into the US. People should be doing the opposite according to your logic. Why don't you emigrate to the great utopia that is cuba, I'm sure you would find life very fulfilling there.
ProudCanadian | Mar 26, 2012, 11:28 AM EDT
Galway don't listen to these American idiots and go ahead and erect whatever statue you want. You don't need to have any American tourists anyway plenty of other countries want to see your fine country. I have been to Galway a few times and just loved it. US mind your own business you have enough trouble in your own country without critizing others. Seanfer7 you to have hit the nail on the head. The Republican morons are at it again removing one foot to insert the other. I blame The Donald the biggest republican moraon of them all.
BrendanDunphy | Mar 26, 2012, 11:24 AM EDT
Funny how the Irish conveniently pick and chose who is "Irish" and who isn't. To them, Che is Irish, but yet so many of us first-generation foreigners are not.
patrickesq | Mar 26, 2012, 11:24 AM EDT
US politicians do not have much credibility today, especially when they craft their messages to please their constituents , during or in anticipation of their next election. A monument to Baptista would more readily be viewed as an outrage. The recent novel by William Kennedy: Chango's Beads and Two-Toned Shoes, high lights the abuses of the Baptista regime and the ideals of the Revolution led by Castro. The Revolution may have gotten side-tracked after it succeeded, but let history tell us who the heroes were and let us not defer to the politicians for that judgement.
ProudCanadian | Mar 26, 2012, 11:17 AM EDT
Thanks seegreen for putting in some proper history about Che. He wasn't the monster that most Americans think he was. They talk obout mass murderers, hell they elected the biggest mass murderer for two terms, does anyone remember George Warmunger Bush. Towngate your post was right on.
seanfer7 | Mar 26, 2012, 11:15 AM EDT
The Republicans are against everything why don't they mind their own business oh I FORGOT THEY WANT GOVERNMENT OUT OF PEOPLES LIVES
pounder | Mar 26, 2012, 10:42 AM EDT
whats the difference between Che and Obama?Both Irish, right?
TheOldPerfessor | Mar 26, 2012, 10:39 AM EDT
SeamusMor - those Congressmen will do anything to divert attention from the fact that they aren't lifting a finger to create jobs. However their efforts to make guns more available and health care less available will help encourage hiring at mortuaries. Otherwise, the last I heard Ireland was a free country and they can build whatever statue they feel like.
seagreen | Mar 26, 2012, 10:39 AM EDT
All of the talk about Guevera killing thousands? All records and research indicate that he personally killed 10 people. They were deserters,those that stole rations, and two that raped peasant women..Guevera changed from a priviledged young Argentine physician during his motorcycle trip all through South America, where he saw people being brutalized by the then reigning people in power. He was in a position at La Cabana Prison to make final appelate decision on 55 war prisoners. He did not lessen or free these people, so althiough he did not personally kill them, their execution was attributed to him. In 1997, a letter in El Nuevo Herald claimed that he shot a 14 yr. old. This letter was written by a man that said he was a prisoner. This was disputed by others on the basis that age and demographics would not have allowed the writer to have been there.. There were others execurted at La Cabana after the war, but not at the hand of Guevera, he had long since departed for the Congo. Other claims of rampant murder were proven to be totally false.. Guevere was killed by the CIA in Bolivia...During the Batista regime, 20,000 Cubans were killed, and thousands tortured whil American gangsters and tourists frolicked in the Casinos and clubs of Havana.. It depends where you stood economically or otherwise as to who your hero was/is.. having your wealth and position taken from you ( or at least having to move it to another country) is reason enough to keep the first wave which were mainly Batista's perpetually pissed off.
BrendanDunphy | Mar 26, 2012, 10:28 AM EDT
As an American, I honestly couldn't give a rats arse if they erected this statue. It is their land. It is their right.
Murph46 | Mar 26, 2012, 10:25 AM EDT
Cameron is exactly right ,Ireland can put up anything they want,but if the perception causes a huge drop in tourism,don't send any more ambassadors over to the US seeking money,cause it won't work.
SeamusMor | Mar 26, 2012, 10:18 AM EDT
If anyone should be outraged, it's the U.S. tax payers! With all that needs to be done in the U.S., the thought of Congressmen spending time thinking and talking about a proposed statue in far off Galway is ludicrous. Whatever and whoever Che was is not as important as what he has become; an international icon, who, according to his own father,"the first thing to note is that in my son's veins flowed the blood of the Irish rebels." The statue will put Galway on the world map, and make the seaside city on the remote west coast a destination for tourists the world over who might never have placed Ireland on their travel itineraries, were it not for the statue. The U.S. Congress should mind its own business!
jamieLM | Mar 26, 2012, 09:51 AM EDT
@Towngate, The vast majority of Americans couldn't care less whether this statue is built or not. If the people of Galway can't find anyone in Ireland, or in Irish history, more deserving than this creep to honor, so be it. I recently traveled to see the unveiling of a beautiful statue in an Iowa city that honored the plight of Irish immigrants to the U.S. and the role they played in the early history of that Iowa city - a group worthy of being honored.
jamthecat | Mar 26, 2012, 09:45 AM EDT
Since when does the US get to determine what statues get to be built about whom in countries other than our own? If Galway wants to build a statue to Che Guevara, they can. They're in a separate sovereign nation from the US and we have no say in it. If you don't like that idea, don't visit there. But it's pretty effing arrogant to be trying to tell people who are not part of the US what they can and can't do, especially considering some of the despots and dictators we've supported in the past, many of whom make Guevara's actions seem like child's play.
fitzcarraldo | Mar 26, 2012, 09:42 AM EDT
Next time I am in Galway I would like to see the statue.
sunspotter5 | Mar 26, 2012, 09:31 AM EDT
Wasn't Hitler .00023% Irish as well?
colkelley | Mar 26, 2012, 09:30 AM EDT
Towngate has his/her head in a dark, moist and smelly personal place - don't bother him/her with the fact that Che was a mass murderer and did not believe in human rights in any way. What better person for the Irish to honor to prove to the rest of the world that they are, indeed, a group of drunken stumblebums. Quit griping about St. Paddy's Day portrayals of the Irish when you are bearing out every stereotype of the monkeylike Irish.
brianmack | Mar 26, 2012, 09:29 AM EDT
I could be mistaken but I read somewhere that George Washington and Thos. Jefferson were slave owners. Could be wrong and hope I am but the other day, in DC, I saw quite a few statues honoring these men. I dare not mention the extermination of a good portion of the American Indian population. Revolution is ugly and produces some horrible deaths and destruction. Che is just one of those leaders. One more name, and they now own most of the world, Communist China and Chairman Mao. Let's start getting more outraged Mario and not just at Che.
manhattan | Mar 26, 2012, 09:23 AM EDT
Read the rant from Towngate and that explains the snobbish elite in Ireland that hate America. What an insult to the Cubans who fled for there lives to America in order to live in freedom. Oh yeah! Towngate Americans is the correct spelling not Americanians.What a naive ass.
faberm1 | Mar 26, 2012, 09:15 AM EDT
Che was a totalitarian who didn't believe in personal freedom. He helped set up the prison camps in Cuba that were later used to incarcerate gays and people with aids. Surely there are many local Galway heroes who could be honored for their role in freedom instead of this person.
Towngate | Mar 26, 2012, 08:03 AM EDT
Are the Pesky Americanians afraid that if Ireland is covered in memorials to "Mass Murderers and Human Rights Abusers" they just happen to disapprove of, that there will be no room left for any memorials to their own world-wide Mass Murderers and Human Rights Abuses! Connolly; tell this rabid Ros-Lehtinen upstart where to stick her "outrage"!