A response to Jim Fitzpatrick’s letter supporting a monument to Che Guevara in Galway, published (Having being apparently declined by the Irish Times) in this week’s Galway Advertiser (not yet available online).

From Cuban-born, Castro-loathing Yale professor Carlos Eire:

As a victim of Che Guevara’s atrocities, as a historian, and as a Cuban of Irish descent, I am deeply disturbed by the fact that the city of Galway is planning to erect a monument to Ernesto “Che” Guevara…

Che was my neighbor in Havana, and I actually saw him in the flesh several times.  He lived in an opulent mansion just a few blocks from my very small house, and also ran the prison of La Cabaña, where some of my relatives ended up being tortured and murdered.  Their crime?  Voicing an opinion different from Che’s. Or, in the case of my uncle, simply having a son who voiced an opinion contrary to Che’s.  The awful truth about  Ernesto “Che” Guevara is that he was a violent thug with despotic tendencies.

 

Full letter here

Previously: Jim And Che

Cuban Missed Idol Crisis