Gaelscéal : Che Guevara, Galway’s American problem

Tuairisc le Colm Ó Broin, comhfhreagraí polaitiúil Gaelscéal : 

Tá conspóid ann i gcónaí faoi leacht in ómós Che Guevara atá beartaithe do Chathair na Gaillimhe. Cháin polaiteoirí in Éirinn agus Meiriceá an moladh – dar leo is ‘oll-dhúnmharfóir’ é Guevara a chur na céadta chun báis i ndiaidh Réabhlóid Chúba.

Gaelscéal na seachtaine seo; ‘Masla agus ísliú céime’ do Raidió na Gaeltachta; Sagairt phósta ag teastáil, a deir Rúnaí Deoise; Níl ábhar sagairt nua ar bith san iarthar arís i mbliana; Daonáireamh 2011 maidir le Labhairt na Gaeilge - Cuid 2: Na Cathracha agus na Bruachbhailte, anailís le Donnchta Ó hÉallaithe; An Ómaigh, 14 bliana ar aghaidh; tuairisc le hAnton Mac Cába ar an bhaile.

Deir Rialtas Mheiriceá go bhfuil siad ag cur in éadan réimeas Chúba le 50 bliain anuas de bharr an easpa daonlathais atá sa tír sin. Ach fad is a bhí SAM ag cáineadh rialtas neamhdhaonlathach Chúba, bhí siad ag tacú le rialtais neamhdhaonlathacha ar fud an leathsféir thiar, ina measc, Háití, An Phoblacht Dhoiminiceach, Hondúras, Panama, Nicearagua, An tSalvadóir, Guatamala, Veiniséala, An Cholóim, Peiriú, Eacuadór, an Bholaiv, Síle, an Bhrasaíl, an Airgintín, Paragua agus Uragua.

Mharaigh réimeas Somoza i Nicearagua thart ar 40,000 duine sular chuir na Sandinistas deireadh lena riail in 1979. Mharaigh fórsa sceimhlitheoireachta a d’eagraigh rialtas Ronald Reagan, na Contras, na mílte eile i rith na 1980í.

Ó dheas sa tSalvadóir, mharaigh rialtas míleata na tire formhór an 70,000 duine a maraíodh le linn cogadh cathartha a bhí sa tír sna 1980í.

Bhí cúrsaí níos measa fós i nGuatamala áit ar mharaigh arm na tíre thart ar 250,000 duine, formhór acu Meiriceánaigh Dhúchasacha, ó chuir SAM deireadh leis an gcóras daonlathach ann in 1954.

Chuir an tuairisc cinedhíothú i leith rialtais mhíleata Ghuatamala sna 1980í, rialtais a fuair airgead, gunnaí agus traenáil ó Washington.

Ní hé amháin gur maraíodh na céadta míle duine, rinneadh gach saghas céasta gránna, brúidiúil ar dhaoine sna tíortha sin chomh maith. Bhí roinnt Meiriceánach i measc na marbh freisin, ach is beag imní a léirigh a rialtas féin faoi sin.

Mar sin féin, ní chiallaíonn fimíneacht na gcáinteoirí in SAM nár chuir Che Guevara daoine chun báis gan triail chóir nó nach bhfuil deachtóireacht i bhfeidhm i gCúba de bharr na réabhlóide a raibh sé páirteach ann.

 

Gaelscéal: Che Guevara, Galway’s American problem

Report by Colm Ó Broin, Political Correspondent with Gaelscéal

Gaelscéal this week looks at the controversy raging over a monument to Che Guevara that is planned for Galway City.  Politicians in Ireland and America have condemned the proposal saying that Guevara was a mass murderer who executed hundreds of people following the Cuban Revolution.

US administrations say they have been opposing the Cuban regime for the past 50 years due to its undemocratic nature. It should be pointed out that while this has been going on they were supporting undemocratic regimes in places such as Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Panama, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.

The Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua killed 40,000 people before being overthrown by the Sandinistas in 1979. A terrorist force created by Ronald Reagan, the Contras, killed thousands of civilians during the 1980s and were according to Human Rights Watch “major and systematic violators of the most basic standards of the laws of armed conflict, including by launching indiscriminate attacks on civilians, selectively murdering non-combatants, and mistreating prisoners.” 

The military regime in El Salvador killed the vast majority of the 70,000 people killed in that country’s civil war in the 1980s.

Things were even worse in Guatemala where the army killed about 250,000 people, mostly indigenous Mayans, after coming to power in a US-backed coup in 1954.

A United Nations report accused the military of committing genocide during the 1980s, a regime that received guns, money and training from the US.

Not only were hundreds of thousands of people killed in these countries, they also suffered every imaginable torture and abuse. The dead included some Americans, but their government didn’t express much concern over this.

The US condemnation of Che Guevara may be hypocritical, however that still doesn’t change the fact that he executed people without a fair trial or that Cubans continue to live under a dictatorship he helped create.

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