ON a sunny December morning fifteen years ago I was standing near La Malacon seafront in Havana, Cuba when three limousines with black tinted windows drove past.
The drivers blared their horns at me.
Inside the front Cuban government car sat Gerry Adams, the President of Sinn Féin who the previous night had just met another President... Fidel Castro.
Fidel Castro, always a supporter of the united Ireland cause, died at the weekend aged 90. A good innings for a man who liked his cigars.
Belfast and Havana on the face of it have few connections but that morning was different. Two political leaders from very different parts of the world, both bearded.
Washington and the American government were furious that Adams choose to go ahead with his Cuban trip.
The Americans of course regard Cuba as their backyard and this visit came after the huge turmoil in the world following on from the Twin Towers attack.
Perhaps the main reason for Adams to visit Havana was to say a personal thank you to Castro for his support for the 1981 hunger strike, and to unveil a hunger strike memorial.
In Havana there is a Bobby Sands street and an alleyway named Reilly Street. A small plaque there says: "Cuba and Ireland. Two island peoples in the same sea of struggle and hope.''
I remember going to complicated briefings by Cuban officials and also interviewing the then Foreign Minister.
I had asked for an interview as Irish News political correspondent with Castro but no such luck. He gave very few newspaper interviews.
The arrangements for the meeting between Sinn Féin and Castro was a last minute affair and of course no journalist was allowed inside closed doors.
I heard afterwards that the meeting was a very affable affair. Castro was a stickler for detail and sometimes during his Cuban television appearances he would speak for maybe three hours on the economy or agriculture.
Apparently during the meeting with Adams the Cuban President decided to focus on agriculture and ask all kinds of precise questions about Northern Ireland farming, yields, and types of crops.
In a moment of humour afterwards I thought perhaps an Ulster Farmers Union representative should have been present to help an urbanite such as Adams explain to Fidel about our agriculture industry.
Away from the serious issues of the moment I took the opportunity to walk the streets of Havana.
First I was struck by the incredible Spanish/Europen architecture, somewhat crumbling and needing a coat of paint.
There was a shortage of paint due to the US embargo at this world heritage site.
Second I found it fascinating watching the faces of the people … a diverse culture from Europe, Africa and China … and the love for great music as evoked by the Buena Vista Social Club.
I also took the opportunity to walk into a local boxing club. There they were sparing. They told me that they had boxed in Belfast just a few weeks earlier.
In the marketplace I met many interesting people including college lecturers at their stall selling handicrafts in order to make a few extra dollars to feed their families.
I bought an etching by a Havana University student which still hangs over my fireplace in Rostrevor, Co Down.
It shows the Cuban flag and underneath rising fishing boats … representing the flight of the dissidents from Cuba to Florida.
I also have a photograph somewhere in my home taken of me with Cuban ministers and diplomats... on that sunny day just before Christmas in 2001.
Castro did not sign many autographs in his lifetime …but on the back of my photograph is Fidel's signature.
