Opposition Senators yesterday questioned why the Bermuda Government was planning to do business with communist Cuba.

United Bermuda Party Sen. Neville Darrell said plans by Transport Minister Dr. Ewart Brown to give away the Island's old busses to Fidel Castro's Caribbean Island could upset Bermuda's biggest trade partner - America.

He said that, as with tourists being told to "follow the signs" when they visited Bermuda, he was concerned about what signs the Island was sending out to the US because Cuba had a poor human rights record and was blacklisted by America.

"Where are these signals taking us?", said Sen. Darrell.

"It kind of feels like, and we hear it all the time, we feel adrift. People have no clear sense of where we are going as a country. What do these practises mean and where are we going if we follow these signs? Perhaps we are not fully appreciating our relationship with our trading partners."

Dr. Brown reported earlier this year how he had been to Cuba to hold discussions with transport officials there and said there was a possibility that Cuba would buy Bermuda's old ferries and cars.

He said Bermuda had no use for them and so was looking to sell, but said Cuba would have to come and collect them, if, indeed, they wanted them.

However, he said he would give the Island's old buses to the communist nation for free as they were of no use to Bermuda.

Transport officials from Cuba were due to fly into the Bermuda to discuss the issue further.

His comments have sparked suspicion and concern among the Opposition ranks, the US Consulate, and some residents, who have questioned why Bermuda has opted to transact with Cuba when it could have chosen many other Islands.

But yesterday, Government Leader in the Senate Sen. David Burch said Government was not giving anything free to Cuba.

He said: "We are not giving anything to Cuba. We have offered to sell them buses and ferries.

"Bermuda is a British colony. We answer to Britain. Who does a significant amount of trading with Cuba? Our Mother - the United Kingdom, friend of Bush, coalition partner to America.

"A country who has its own self-written rights and privileges cannot make its own decisions unless America says it's OK?

"You can sit around here and imply what you like. We are used to it. Everything has an ulterior and sinister message because it's brought forward by the PLP. It ain't working. It did not work before."

And Sen. Burch implied that if Government had been so far off on the issue, Governor Sir John Vereker and US diplomats would have stepped in and been more vocal.

"You cannot tell the Government of this country that it cannot govern," he added.

"You have tried it for four-and-a-half years and we have not heard it, and the people have not heard it."