Matt TreacyDuring this, the year of the 40th anniversary of the H Block hunger strikes, attention has once again focused in a small way on the unhealthy relationship between Sinn Féin and the Communist dictatorship in Cuba.


There has been a persistent attempt to link the Irish hunger strikes with the Cuban regime, as epitomised in 2001 when Gerry Adams unveiled a memorial in Havana to Bobby Sands and the nine other men who died in 1981.

Activists under siege at the Isidro Movement headquarters in Havana, Cuba
Most Irish people will not know, however, that a succession of Cuban political prisoners have had a remarkably similar history to Irish republicans in resisting oppression within the prisons. It seems that because Cuba’s Blanketmen are being oppressed by the regime’s brutality, the only reference Adams or Sinn Féin ever make to their struggle is to disparage it.

Just last month, black Cuban activist, Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, was forcibly-fed following a week-long hunger and thirst strike. Alcantara is a member of the San Isidro group that opposes the stifling censorship of artists, writers and other creative persons under the dictatorship that has been in power since 1959.
File Image: Dissident artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara speaks during an interview in Havana

San Isidro is a predominantly black working class section of Havana. Last November, another member, the rapper Denis Solis, was arrested and sentenced to eight months in the maximum security prison of Valle Grande, a place notorious for the torture and degradation of Cuban political detainees.

The constantly-triggered Ógra Shinn Féin failed to post any outraged tweets about this – nor did any of the other Irish “comrades” of oppressed black people. There were no photo-events with impassioned fist-clenching or kneeling – or calling for their embassy pals to be expelled.

On February 23, 2010, another black Cuban activist, Orlando Zapata Tamayo, died following 85 days on hunger strike after being forcibly fed. He had been sentenced to 36 years for “public disorder” and “disobedience.”

Tamayo had gone on hunger strike to demand, like the Blanketmen in the H Blocks, that he be allowed to wear white – the symbol of Cuban resistance – rather than the degrading prison uniform.

You would imagine that this might have elicited some sympathy for Tamayo among those who claim the legacy of the H Block men. Instead, the Bobby Sands Trust, an entity with close links to Sinn Féin that is opposed by the Sands family which has accused it of exploiting Bobby’s legacy for political and commercial gain, regurgitated Cuban state lies about Tamayo.

The Trust published a statement by Alain de Benoist in response to a suggestion that Tamayo might be honoured in Ireland, which repeated the Castroist claim that Tamayo was a criminal who had gone on hunger strike to have a TV and a mobile phone in his cell!

Tamayo was in fact one of the leaders of MAR, the Republican Alternative Movement, a group that opposes the totalitarian state, and campaigns for democracy. He had been arrested in 2003 during a crackdown on activists, not for attacking someone with a machete as was claimed by the Cubans and parroted by their sycophants abroad.

Hunger strikes and the refusal to conform to brutal prison conditions have been used in protest from the very foundation of the Communist state. Huber Matos was one of the Commandantes of the July 26 Movement that overthrew Batista but was imprisoned in 1959 by Castro when he objected to Castro’s installation of the tiny Communist Party which had not even been a formal part of the movement. Castro was filmed during the rebellion in the Sierra Maestra mountains declaring in English that he was not a Marxist, and that the objective was to replace Batista with a democratic government.

Matos was brutally tortured over the course of 20 years spent in the Cuban gulags. He claims that another hero of the revolution, Camilo Cienfuegos, Chief of Staff of the army, who was sent to arrest him had attempted to intervene with Fidel. Cienfuegos died a week later in a plane crash but the plane was never recovered. Guevara denied that Cienfuegos had been murdered but offered the theory that the plane had been mistaken for an “intruder.” Matos and others were convinced that Cienfuegos was another victim along with many members of the rebel army purged by the Castros.

Matos spent 35 days on hunger strike, one of many that has taken place during the course of the prison resistance to the Communists. Those who refused to conform by wearing the prison uniform or to attend indoctrination courses or to inform were known as Los Plantados – the Immovables.

In the documentary Nadie Escuchaba – Nobody Listened – one former prisoner Jorge Valles who was held in the horrific La Cabana prison described how having been deprived of physical freedom that it became curiously the only free space where amid the daily tortures and executions, “free thinking dwelt behind prison walls” among the diverse Catholic, anarchist, democratic and leftist opponents of the regime.

It is difficult to believe that Bobby Sands who wrote about “the inner thing in every man” that “lights the dark of this prison cell” would have been happy to have his name sullied by being associated with the torturers of the Cuban prisoners whose ongoing prison struggle mirrors that of Irish republicans from Thomas Ashe to the Blanketmen.

Matt Treacy has published a number of books including histories of 
the Republican Movement and of the Communist Party of Ireland.  

Cuba’s Blanketmen Opposed By Sinn Féin During The Anniversary Of The Hunger Strikes

Matt TreacyDuring this, the year of the 40th anniversary of the H Block hunger strikes, attention has once again focused in a small way on the unhealthy relationship between Sinn Féin and the Communist dictatorship in Cuba.


There has been a persistent attempt to link the Irish hunger strikes with the Cuban regime, as epitomised in 2001 when Gerry Adams unveiled a memorial in Havana to Bobby Sands and the nine other men who died in 1981.

Activists under siege at the Isidro Movement headquarters in Havana, Cuba
Most Irish people will not know, however, that a succession of Cuban political prisoners have had a remarkably similar history to Irish republicans in resisting oppression within the prisons. It seems that because Cuba’s Blanketmen are being oppressed by the regime’s brutality, the only reference Adams or Sinn Féin ever make to their struggle is to disparage it.

Just last month, black Cuban activist, Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, was forcibly-fed following a week-long hunger and thirst strike. Alcantara is a member of the San Isidro group that opposes the stifling censorship of artists, writers and other creative persons under the dictatorship that has been in power since 1959.
File Image: Dissident artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara speaks during an interview in Havana

San Isidro is a predominantly black working class section of Havana. Last November, another member, the rapper Denis Solis, was arrested and sentenced to eight months in the maximum security prison of Valle Grande, a place notorious for the torture and degradation of Cuban political detainees.

The constantly-triggered Ógra Shinn Féin failed to post any outraged tweets about this – nor did any of the other Irish “comrades” of oppressed black people. There were no photo-events with impassioned fist-clenching or kneeling – or calling for their embassy pals to be expelled.

On February 23, 2010, another black Cuban activist, Orlando Zapata Tamayo, died following 85 days on hunger strike after being forcibly fed. He had been sentenced to 36 years for “public disorder” and “disobedience.”

Tamayo had gone on hunger strike to demand, like the Blanketmen in the H Blocks, that he be allowed to wear white – the symbol of Cuban resistance – rather than the degrading prison uniform.

You would imagine that this might have elicited some sympathy for Tamayo among those who claim the legacy of the H Block men. Instead, the Bobby Sands Trust, an entity with close links to Sinn Féin that is opposed by the Sands family which has accused it of exploiting Bobby’s legacy for political and commercial gain, regurgitated Cuban state lies about Tamayo.

The Trust published a statement by Alain de Benoist in response to a suggestion that Tamayo might be honoured in Ireland, which repeated the Castroist claim that Tamayo was a criminal who had gone on hunger strike to have a TV and a mobile phone in his cell!

Tamayo was in fact one of the leaders of MAR, the Republican Alternative Movement, a group that opposes the totalitarian state, and campaigns for democracy. He had been arrested in 2003 during a crackdown on activists, not for attacking someone with a machete as was claimed by the Cubans and parroted by their sycophants abroad.

Hunger strikes and the refusal to conform to brutal prison conditions have been used in protest from the very foundation of the Communist state. Huber Matos was one of the Commandantes of the July 26 Movement that overthrew Batista but was imprisoned in 1959 by Castro when he objected to Castro’s installation of the tiny Communist Party which had not even been a formal part of the movement. Castro was filmed during the rebellion in the Sierra Maestra mountains declaring in English that he was not a Marxist, and that the objective was to replace Batista with a democratic government.

Matos was brutally tortured over the course of 20 years spent in the Cuban gulags. He claims that another hero of the revolution, Camilo Cienfuegos, Chief of Staff of the army, who was sent to arrest him had attempted to intervene with Fidel. Cienfuegos died a week later in a plane crash but the plane was never recovered. Guevara denied that Cienfuegos had been murdered but offered the theory that the plane had been mistaken for an “intruder.” Matos and others were convinced that Cienfuegos was another victim along with many members of the rebel army purged by the Castros.

Matos spent 35 days on hunger strike, one of many that has taken place during the course of the prison resistance to the Communists. Those who refused to conform by wearing the prison uniform or to attend indoctrination courses or to inform were known as Los Plantados – the Immovables.

In the documentary Nadie Escuchaba – Nobody Listened – one former prisoner Jorge Valles who was held in the horrific La Cabana prison described how having been deprived of physical freedom that it became curiously the only free space where amid the daily tortures and executions, “free thinking dwelt behind prison walls” among the diverse Catholic, anarchist, democratic and leftist opponents of the regime.

It is difficult to believe that Bobby Sands who wrote about “the inner thing in every man” that “lights the dark of this prison cell” would have been happy to have his name sullied by being associated with the torturers of the Cuban prisoners whose ongoing prison struggle mirrors that of Irish republicans from Thomas Ashe to the Blanketmen.

Matt Treacy has published a number of books including histories of 
the Republican Movement and of the Communist Party of Ireland.  

6 comments:

  1. Wow. Is there no end to those who invoke Bobby Sands' name in order to gain political capital? Even the far right 'Miami Brigade' are at it now.

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  2. The revolutionary government in Cuba who overthrew the yolks of the Batista regime, backed by huge capitalism from the USA have their faults. Nothing is inch perfect, but conpared with the Batista regime the communist era has heralded huge gains. Gone are the rich mans playthings, child prostitutes, forced to work, if work is the correct word, through abject poverty. No longer can perverted rich yanks come to the island and use uneducated kids as sex toys. Before anybody says it, yes poverty still exists in Cuba but nowhere near the scale under Batista. The difference was, under the US backed dictator the poverty was highlighted by a strata of super rich playboys, many part of Batistas regime. Unfortunately Cuba have to suffer the US economic blockade which reduces the quality of goods and services. Despite this the tiny island has arguably the finest health system on the planet, imagine the quality of all goods and services if the blockade was removed.

    I understand Matt Treacy is the man, with no substantiated evidence, who attempted to discredit IRA leader Tom Barry who led the ambush of Brit Auxilliaries at Kilmichael, 28th November 1920. Treacy tries to make out the Barry had the Auxies shot despite them being in a state of surrender. Barry had already given the British forces one reprieve when they faked a surrender, then the suppossed surrendering Auxies opened fire on the IRA flying column. They tried a second bluff, this time Barry was having none of it. Treacy's evidence was based on testimonies from people he could not possibly have interviewed, as he claimed, simply because they were dead!

    Based on this the qhestion must be asked of Matt, where he gets his information regarding prisoners in Cuba? I noted he mentions La Cabana prison which, I have no doubt is not a great place to be, but not a mention of Guan Tanamo Bay (sorry about spelling) run and managed by the USA and the Cuban Government have no say over.

    The revolutionary government in Cuba is far from perfect. Nobody anywhere should be denied "physical freedom" most capitalist regimes practice it but manage to keep it quiet. Freedom of movement in capitalist countries is also denied under certain conditions, the 1984/85 British Coal Miners Strike is an example of denial freedom of movement.

    Are the prisoners in Cuba those who are supportive of the old regime, Batista? If they are they may be advoxating pre revolutionary conditions on the island which, of course, must be prevented. Do the British and Irish 26 county governments not do something similar to political prisoners? Information, from living wittnesses, suggest to me they do.

    Maybe we should be attacking a system which forces people to take such drastic action as hunger strikes and blanket protests. Capitalism, and its nearest cousin fascism, forces such action. Cuba is a reaction to capitalism, therefore reactionary prisonets will borrow the clothing of revolutionaries. Its an old game, like management stealing the strategy of seconday action from the trade unions, as W.M. Murphy did in 1913/14. The difference is these reactionary, counter revolutionary prisoners will get the attention of the capitalist press0 and counter revolutionary writers such as Matt Treacy.

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  3. While the effects of the vindictive US blockade of Cuba must always be taken into account and Cuba's achievements in its excellent health service and its eradication of illiteracy must also be acknowledged; it is fact that homosexuality is outlawed on the island; that the regime does not allow freedom of expression or enquiry and maintains a secret police force.

    Fully democratic elections are long overdue in Cuba.

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  4. Matt Treacy comments They've spread some shit about me, but this takes the biscuit!

    I understand Matt Treacy is the man, with no substantiated evidence, who attempted to discredit IRA leader Tom Barry who led the ambush of Brit Auxilliaries at Kilmichael, 28th November 1920. Treacy tries to make out the Barry had the Auxies shot despite them being in a state of surrender. Barry had already given the British forces one reprieve when they faked a surrender, then the suppossed surrendering Auxies opened fire on the IRA flying column. They tried a second bluff, this time Barry was having none of it. Treacy's evidence was based on testimonies from people he could not possibly have interviewed, as he claimed, simply because they were dead!

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  5. Matt Treacy Comments

    I don't know what books, if any, this person has read regarding the Auxies at Kilmichael, but they were not written by me.

    Any reference I ever made in pieces I've written have been based on accounts by Barry and other participants. I certainly never said any of the things he attributes to me.

    As for the rest of the post, well it would come as a great surprise to many of Castro's anti Communist victims who were in the July 26 movement, that they were Batista supporters.

    As for the current victims referred to, i would imagine that they are possibly closer in ideology to the left here, than they are to me. None of this is a secret. There are lots of sources on the repression of all non Communists in Cuba dating back over 60 years. They include a whole range of people from all sorts of political backgrounds and none. Totalitarians tend not to be fussy.

    The hypocrisy of Sinn Féin and others in supporting that repression under the banner of the H Block men is pretty obvious. Then again, when they are guests of the Castros on one of their private islands, enjoying creature comforts unimaginable to the vast number of Cubans or to the hunger strikers and blanketmen on whose backs they have climbed to power, that they have little time for any of that.

    As a republican and as someone who holds the memory of the H Block men dear in a world where their courage is a rarity, my sympathies are with Los Plandados, not a dynasty of incompetent thieves and murderers.

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  6. I too am a Republican. I thought our aim was the establishment of a democratic socialist Republic?
    I think that most true Republicans would take inspiration and solace from Cuba's example in these dark times.
    The Cubans, under the leadership of Catstro, played a major role in the destruction of the apartheid regime. Their actions in Angola, and elsewhere, helped topple that vile entity.
    Cuba is far from a socialist utopia, but their efforts are principled and genuine. Matt your diatribe against Cuba, and anything left leaning, leaves you looking increasingly like an embittered reactionary.

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