Dublin, September 14, 2023. Sponsored by the Chancellery and the Irish Emigration Museum, the launch of the exhibition “Ireland and the Caribbean: Entangled Islands” was held at the latter's headquarters, with the assistance of the director of Latin America and the Caribbean of the Irish Foreign Ministry, Ciara O'Floinn, ambassadors from the region, representatives of the communities of Caribbean countries residing in Ireland and the general public.
One of the posters dedicated to the links between Ireland and Cuba displays the story of the Irish journalist James J. O'Kelly, whom in 1872, the newspaper "The New York Herald" sent to Cuba as its correspondent. Their mission was to circumvent the Spanish authorities, reach Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, then President of the Republic in arms, and send reports on the true situation of the independence rebellion. At the risk of his life, he managed to interview the Cuban patriot and in his book “The Land of the Mambí” he masterfully described the six weeks he shared with the Mambises in the bush, as well as his sympathies for their struggle.
Another poster is dedicated to the meeting of the Heroic Guerrilla, Ernesto Ché Guevara, with the renowned Irish actress, Maureen O'Hara, in Havana, on April 15, 1959 and the dialogue held by both in relation to the Lynch surname of their paternal family and the reasons for his extensive knowledge of Ireland.
Entangled Islands traces four centuries of Irish migration to the Caribbean, exploring our many historical and cultural ties. It tells the stories of a wide range of Irish people who traversed and settled in the region. The Cuban Ambassador, Bernardo Guanche Hernández, congratulated the organizers for their initiative and thanked them for including Cuba in the exhibition.