Sir, - I couldn't help but be disappointed by the tone and content of your editorial "Che Guevara's Legacy" (October 18th) as it didn't seem to fit in with the politics of any previous reports on Cuba carried in your newspaper.
I am at a loss to understand how you can use the terms Latin America and free trade next to Clinton's name in an editorial about Cuba/Che Guevara and not mention the deeply unjust and immoral economic blockade of Cuba which the US Government has had in place for more than 30 years. Free trade does not exist for Cuban people. The Helms-Burton legislation means that those countries trading with Cuba face sanctions under US law. The reality is that Cuba cannot import the materials and products it requires to meet its citizens' needs, and this includes medical equipment and life-saving drugs. It is not Castro, but the United States government which needs all the legitimacy it can muster to justify its tyranny in relation to Cuba.
Your editorial asserts that this free trade is closer to "the real fabric of Latin American politics" than Guevara's guerrilla struggle, which you label "pathetic". I would suggest that for the vast majority who have not benefitted from free trade agreements, Che Guevara is a hero. For these people, that is the many hundreds of millions living in misery, "the real fabric of Latin American politics" is the aspiration to live with dignity and justice. Che Guevara and others like him attempted to make that aspiration a reality. Is that so pathetic? - Yours, etc., Karen Hatherley,
Clondara Street,
Belfast 12.