TALK Magazine
August 2001
Fidel Castro: The Movie Star Dictator
by Ann Louise Bardach
Against all odds, including innumerable assassination attempts, Fidel Castro will celebrate his 75th birthday on August 13. And retirement is not option. "Revolutionaries do not retire!" he snapped at me some years back when I broached the issue. Nor is he slowing down. In May, Castro went on a world tour wining and dining with some on the U.S.'s least wanted list such as Libya's Muammar Khaddafi and the leaders of Iran and Malayasia. On June 30, he toasted the one year anniversary of the return of Elian Gonzalez -his biggest victory since he routed the U. S. during its catastrophic Bay of Pigs invasion, once again humiliating his long standing enemy.
The conventional wisdom was that Castro would be toppled soon after his triumphant march on Havana on January 8, 1959. But 42 years later, despite a crippling American trade Embargo and a million furious exiles, the indomitable Castro has maintained his steely grip on his island fiefdom. Not only has he chewed his way through nine American presidents, Castro has reigned longer than the Caesars, Spain's Franco, Yugoslavia's Tito and he is gaining on Queen Victoria. He is the movie star dictator.
Previously famous as an American gambling parlor, Castro put Cuba front and center on the international map. For more than four decades - his movements are clocked around the world and virtually every utterance leaps on the wire services. "I feel the same excitement now as when I was 19 years old and got involved in this," Fidel Castro told me in 1994, as he readied himself to undertake his "greatest challenge" - surviving the collapse of his patron state, the Soviet Union. Indeed, he exalts in playing David to his Goliath superpower neighbor. His opening salvo upon George W. Bush began, "I hope he's not as dumb as he looks."
Castro is among the most intensely polarizing figures of the century: lauded by some for his nationalism and anti-Americanism - and despised by an equal number as a despot responsible for the destruction of his country. The opinions below reflect this division: for example, did Castro break with his father? Was the young Castro a gangster at the university?
In some respects, the Cuban quagmire can be viewed as a huge family feud as most recently dramatized by the tug of war over young Elian Gonzalez. Among Castro's most determined enemies are members of his own family such as his former nephew, Lincoln Diaz-Balart, the Republican congressman from Miami, a pivotal figure in shutting down the Miami-Dade County recount. And once again the Diaz-Balarts and the Castros are squaring off against each other. Diaz-Balart, who emerged as the Bush administration's point man on Cuba, is also the son of Castro's former best friend, Rafael. Another son, Mario, currently a state assemblyman, is expected to be rewarded by the Florida's Republican legislature with a newly carved congressional district which would give the family a virtual fiefdom. Not since their father, Rafael, ran Cuba's much feared Ministry of Interior for the former dictator Fulgencio Batista, have the Diaz-Balarts had so much power.
Castro was one of nine children of a self-made land tycoon from the eastern region of Cuba known as Oriente. He was educated in Jesuit schools and excelled in sports. He became infatuated with politics while attending the Law School of the University of Havana. He was imprisoned, fell in love (several times to very different women) led a revolution, killed former friends and enemies, directed a war in Angola and survived the demise of his own patron state.
In the early 1960s Castro married Dalia Soto del Valle, although the marriage and the birth of their five sons has never been publicly disclosed in Cuba. Nor is Dalia seen at official events. There have been several other important liaisons and lesser affairs as well, and at least two other illegitimate children. However, Castro is a fastidiously private man, and his liaisons have been discreetly maintained.
Almost weekly he wines and dines powerbrokers and celebrities, from Errol Flynn to David Rockefeller, Jack Nicholson and Ted Turner queue up to meet him. Although he has been ceaselessly scrutinized, his demise forever prophesized, Castro remains very much a riddle. Below are the first hand accounts of his friends, enemies and former comrades, including a rare interview with his sister Juanita, who broke with him and left Cuba in 1964.
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH
Juanita Castro - 65, Castro's younger sister - living in Miami since 1964.
When we were young, - all seven brothers and sisters got along really well. During vacations, we would all go to the beach together with our mom. I have no bad memories from my childhood with respect to my brothers. Before the Revolution, Fidel was normal. But Fidel was distant and didn't show his feelings easily. Fidel did everything on his own. He had his own ideas.
Luis Aguilar Leon - former grade school classmate, historian.
My first encounter with Fidel Castro was at the Dolores School of the Jesuits in Santiago. We were 12 years old. One day posted on the school bulletin board there was a letter from the President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt. And it was to Fidel Castro. I asked, "who is Fidel Castro?" And the priest told me, "one of your classmates." So I went to see him. And he told me that he wrote to President Roosevelt congratulating him on his election. I said to him. "It is very impressive that he answered you," and he said, "no, it's not really. I asked them for $20 and they didn't send me a cent." That made me laugh. I was very impressed and the Jesuits, as well, were impressed.
Jose Ignacio Rasco - former school mate of Castro from high school and
University of Havana.
I remember when Fidel had just arrived at the Colegio de Belen. He went to Belen because his family had money but (they were) not fine people. He had this sort of rustic quality. He was the son of Angel Castro and Lina Ruiz, who came to the farm as a maid and ended up becoming the wife of the house. Don Angel was an old-fashioned Spaniard, from Galicia (in the north of Spain), who landed in Cuba as a Spanish soldier to fight against the Cuban independence movement. He became a rich latifundista [owner of large agricultural estates] in Biran.
Jack Skelly, former friend and UPI newsman.
My father was in charge of the railroad for the United Fruit Company which is today Chiquita Banana. Banes was an American company town. Our neighbors were the Diaz-Balarts and their father was the principal lawyer for United Fruit. The Castros lived in Biran which was 35 miles away. The Diaz-Balarts were not rich but they had clout. Angel Castro had a lot of land, they were rich, but it was not a class type thing.
Padre Amado Llorente - priest/teacher at Belen School.
Fidel Castro was born a bastard. His mother was not the mother of the first two children of his father and this was difficult for him. Apparently, the first wife died from a psychological illness and that's how Fidel's mother [who had been a servant in the house] and father began living together. But he is not completely illegitimate because later the Bishop of Santiago married his parents and baptized the children. Although the father later married her, this was always a shadow over his life; it was a trauma to his soul. More than once he said to me, '-f I had not found you, I would say that I have no family.'
Juanita Castro
My father was a straight shooter with very good feelings towards Fidel. My father financially supported Fidel all the time, when he was in school, after school and when he got married to Mirta. He never fought with my father. They had good relations. Once Fidel drove from Havana to Matanzas or Santa Clara and crashed his car and my father got him another car. Whatever Fidel wanted, my father was very generous with him in particular. My father was reserved with a strong personality, not expressive and very dedicated to his work. He never rested. Fidel was very similar to our father.
Jose Ignacio Rasco
At Belen, Fidel was very shy, especially with the girls. I remember the crush he had on a beautiful 15 year-old who lived close to the school but he could never talk to her. Never. He was 15 and looked tall, handsome, with dark hair. And he had nice clothes. One of our schoolmates, a very nerdy small guy, won the girl. And Fidel was furious.What might seem ironic now was his initial stagefright. At Belen there was a literary academy, but to qualify as a member of the academy there was a test that involved being able to talk for 10 minutes, without any notes, about a subject given to the aspiring candidate an hour before. Fidel failed it three times before he was able to pass. The teacher said when he saw him suffering at the podium, "if you put bells on his knees he could give us a concert." Needless to say, he overcame this.He was able to get by with hardly any sleep. He memorized any text word for word, period and commas included. He was a real computer.Fidel was a formidable athlete--track and field, baseball, racquetball, tennis, and basketball too. He was named the All-around Star Athlete of the year. Hours and whole days of his vacation he would practice. He was a racehorse.
Padre Amado Llorente - priest/teacher at Belen School
We had an Explorers Club. Often on long weekends we would go to the countryside. Once I took him and about forty other boys to the mountains in Pinar del Rio. I made him the chief, because he was. That day we left our tent and crossed to the other side of the river. And suddenly, it started raining like a flood. When we came back, Fidel said to me, "Father, the water is up to my chest." And I said, "Well we have here more than forty boys who are not as strong as you and me with all their clothes and food on the other side of the river." Fidel swam across the river with this rope in his teeth so he wouldnêt go under. He tied the end of the rope to the tree and the boys went across. I went last, but I wanted to save the rope too. But as I was crossing the river, the current swarmed over me and I started to go under. Fidel leapt into the river and brought me to safety. When we got out, Fidel called out, "this was a miracle!" And we were hugging each other and very emotional and he said, "let us pray! Three Hail Marys!" So you should know that at that time Fidel Castro believed in God.
Jose Ignacio Rasco - former classmate at Belen and University
[At Belen] we called him El Loco because of all the "crazy things" he did at school. I remember the $5.00 bet he made with another student daring him (to) throw himself head first from a moving bicycle, at full speed, against a wall in the school's hallway. And he did it and ending up unconscious in the clinic. But he won the five dollars. I've always seen this absurd incident as a precursor to the attack he later made on Moncada - his zeal for notoriety.
Angel Fernandez Varela - former teacher at Belen School
He was very popular at school. So much so that one of the young school employees, Gildo, followed him to the Moncada and was killed. That boy would do anything for Fidel Castro, and he died for him.
Salvador Lew - school mate from University; attorney, Miami radio host.
I met Fidel at the University of Havana in 1947. He was a student leader and so was I. He came to see me and persuaded me that I should not run. He was very smart and very convincing. I think it's interesting that Fidel never mentions that his father was his provider . Once his father sent him $10,000 to buy a new car and a gun because Fidel said he was having problems at the university. He had an allowance and was living in one of the best guesthouses for students and later he had his own apartment.
I saw Fidel several times at the university with Mein Kampf under his arm. It was well known that he admired Mussolini at school. He ran but was never able to win an election at the university and that may be the reason why he has never called for an election in Cuba.
Luis Posada -Castro's lifelong would-be assassin; currently under arrest in Panama for an attempted assassination of Castro.
Castro was tall, good looking but he had a little chin. He looks better with the beard. At the University, he was always with gangsters with raincoats and pistols ... Castro put the pressure on a friend of mine, Rafael Prats to support his candidate for president. There were attempted murders and a lot of chaos and trouble.
Max Lesnick - school friend of Castro; editor of Replica.
When Fidel was a student, it was a very violent time and the students were very revolutionary. There were gangs at the University but Fidel wasn't a gangster, he carried a gun to defend himself against them. There was a meeting of the Student's Federation and Fidel denounced every one of the gangsters, who were all outside in order to assassinate him. He had tremendous courage. It was said that "he who follows Fidel either arrives or perishes in the attempt."
Jack Skelly - former friend and UPI reporter.
I remember the first time I met him. Castro came to Banes where his in-laws lived in the summer of '49. Mirta was about 7 months pregnant. On the 4th of July, the company had a big picnic. It was a full-moon and there was an 8 or 9 piece combo playing Cole Porter songs, and I was sitting there and Fidel wearing a white guayabera walking up with Mirta. He spent a week at the beach there with us. Every night we played Canasta by hurricane lights, drank beer, smoked cigars and argued politics. And also played dominos. Fidel always yelled at everybody. Although Rafael was right up there with him and a great politician, too.
He was hiding out from Rolando Masferrer (a mobster, later murdered in Miami) for killing one of his gang at the University. There was about three groups, and Fidel was in one of them. They were called the happy trigger groups. And so he came to Banes to hide out.
MONCADA and THE REVOLUTION (1953 - 1958)
In 1952, when Fulgencio Batista seized power through a military coup, Castro declined the invitation of his brother in law Rafael Diaz-Balart to join Batistaês government. He had far grander ambitions. On July 26, 1953, Castro became a legend with an audacious and disastrous assault on the Moncada, a military garrison in Santiago de Cuba. Castro and his brother, Raul, were among the few survivors of the attack and were sentenced to lengthy prison terms. Two years later, Batista made the mistake of his life, and granted a general amnesty to political prisoners. Castro fled to Mexico with his barbudo (bearded) followers and returned to the mountains above Santiago from where he waged a guerilla war. On December 30, 1958, Batista fled to Miami and Castro began his march into Havana.
Salvador Lew
When Batista orchestrated his military coup on March 10, 1952, Fidel saw the opportunity to become a national leader. And that's the reason he went to the Moncada. He knew that he was not going to win (they were 134 men against an army) but that it would give him national stature. He gambled with his life - he could have been killed. But by attacking the Moncada, he became the most important leader in Cuba.
Bernard Diederich - former Latin American Bureau chief for TIME.
The day Fidel arrived in Havana from Santiago he gave the first famous speech. He had a very hoarse voice having talked all the damned time and he must have been very tired. Somebody put a glass of water on the podium for his hoarse throat. A little way through his speech, they let out these four doves from a cage to mark the celebration- you know the white dove of peace, the war is over and all that. God knows how long those doves had been in that cage. They were dirty and didn't look so good -and one settled on Castro's shoulder and another put its head in Fidel's glass of water and started to drink and wash itself and had a real bath in his water- discoloring the water strikingly. Meanwhile, Fidel was talking on and on - oblivious. And suddenly, Fidel lifts the glass and as he does we all go, "Oh! My God" And he looks around at us, sort of saying "why are these idiots interrupting my speech" and without noticing what happened, he drank the pigeon's bathwater
Juanita Castro
My mother supported the Revolution but later she had problems. But she was their mother also. She used to joke about the situation. She worried about what was going on, but she always kept it to herself. The only one who stood against them was me
When the Revolution triumphed, Fidel said on TV that he was the son of a land owner, an exploiter. And that 'all family ties are produced by virtue of pure animal instinct.' Animal instinct not love! This is something that has troubled me and I never could forget this.
LOVE and MARRIAGE
In 1947, Castro was introduced to Mirta Diaz- Balart, an exceedingly pretty 22 year old philosophy student, by her brother Rafael, Castro's close friend at the University. The following year they married and their son, Fidelito, was born. The couple divorced while he was in prison in 1955. Prior to his imprisonment, Castro began an affair with an aristocratic socialite named Naty (Natalia) Revuelta. A daughter, Alina was born in 1956 , who defected in 1993. Perhaps Castro's most important a relationship, lasting from the Sierra Maestra in 1957 until her death in 1980, was with his comrade-in-arms, Celia Sanchez. Castro told me he regarded her as "a guardian angel."
In the early 1960s Castro married Dalia Soto del Valle, although the marriage and the birth of their five sons has never been publicly disclosed in Cuba. Nor is Dalia seen at official events. There have been several other important liaisons and lesser affairs as well, and at least two other illegitimate children. However, Castro is an fastidiously private man, and all of his liaisons have been discreetly maintained.
Jack Skelly
When I came back from the army in the summer of '44, Mirta was suddenly gorgeous. We had pretty good puppy love. I was what you call a medionovio, a half a boyfriend. She was dirty blonde with green eyes. Her laugh was sunshine, I still can hear her laughing. Mirta was el ama de Dios (the soul of God).
She just loved to dance! How she married that guy (Castro) is a mystery to all of us. A guy who has two left feet and no sense of humor. His whole thing was politics. He wasn't Cuban. Cubans have an incredible sense of humor, and the Cubans live for music and dance.
Max Lesnick
When Mirta was young, she was blonde, like a Nordic girl. She was not the typical Cuban. She was not the type of person to get involved in her husband's affairs; she was a homemaker. I remember we used to go to the Orthodox Party meetings when Fidel ran for Representative in 1951-52. Fidel was traveling throughout the province, speaking at each meeting and Mirta would remain in the car, alone, sleeping waiting for him to finish.
Wendy Gimbel - chronicler of Naty Revuelta's family
When Fidel met Naty (Revuelta) in the early 1950's she looked like a movie star who had been dipped by the gods into a golden oil like Ava Gardner and Rita Hayworth. She had wide green eyes and beautiful raven hair. She was a siren. Naty was raised to marry well. She looked down on Mirta as a simple provincial girl. Part of Naty's self-vindication was her belief that Mirta was incapable of being the kind of wife that a young revolutionary leader needed.
Salvador Lew
Mirta loved Fidel very much. Her brother, Rafael was the President of the Youth Section of the Batista Party, then later head of the Interior Ministry, and he never liked that marriage. He was the Under Secretary of the Interior when Fidel was in jail for two years on Isla de Pinos and could ask the prison division for all the correspondence of prisoners because it was censored. And he got a letter for Naty (Revuelta, Fidel's mistress) and he put it in the envelope for Mirta. And he put Mirta's letter in the envelope to Naty. He exchanged (their) letters, which caused their divorce. Mirta wouldn't have left the marriage except for that. Her brother was always pushing for their break up.
Tad Szulc - Castro's principal biographer
Celia Sanchez was 36, six years older than him, when they met in February, 1956 (after his divorce from Mirta). Celia was the only person in my experience who had any kind of sway over Fidel. She was the only person who could say to him ,'you're full of shit and you shouldn't be doing this.' I think her death from lung cancer in 1980 was probably the most tragic loss in his life.
Huber Matos - guerilla leader later sentenced to prison for 20 years.
Celia was a revolutionary and Catholic activist. She wore a little chain around her ankle. We were friends long before Fidel appeared on the scene.
Wendy Gimbel
Celia was the most important. The others were walk-on parts. By the time he got out of jail, Castro didn't care about Naty. She was useful while he was in jail - getting him books and because she was beautiful and could be a fantasy for a moment. After jail, he was in the business of revolution. Celia was from a world he knew. She wasn't bringing with her any problems and baggage of children and divorces like Naty. From Celia's point of view, Naty was a country club socialite; she had risked her life and Naty had changed her clothes.
Lee Lockwood - former LIFE reporter.
When Celia died, it was the end of an era. Her answering machine announcement, and 3 or 4 million people had her private number had this long message - giving tips for just about everything imaginable. She had no ego and he is all ego, so that was the key. He trusted her totally. She was a warm person, funny person. She was attractive, in a kind of a tough stringy way - not voluptuous or sexually noticeable, but she had so much personality.
Lazaro Acensio - former comrade.
Fidel met Dalia (Castro's current common law wife) in Trinidad. The plane of Camilo Cienfuegos (major revolutionary hero) had gone down in 1960, near Casilda Bay. Comandante Pena (famous guerilla fighter) told us to fetch this diver, his niece by marriage, a girl named Dalia Soto del Valle. She was a very good underwater swimmer; She was also young, beautiful, thin, with very white skin. We took her with us in the boat to have her dive and see if she could find the plane, but she didn't find anything. When Fidel came to Trinidad, he was introduced to Dalia and he fell in love and took her with him. And nobody has ever seen her since.
Nancy Perez Crespo - former neighbor of Dalia's family in Trinidad.
I remember Dalia as a beautiful blonde. I was a very close friend of Dalia's brother Fernando. In 1964, I heard from Fernando before I left Cuba because he too dreamed of leaving Cuba. He told me a secret he had just learned about. On a trip to Havana, his mother had told him, "your sister has a lover who is very important figure in the Revolution and they have children, and Dalia wants you to see her baby boys." So he went to the house to see Dalia. And the street where she lived had what they called a frozen zone where nobody could pass by. And he got very suspicious. So finally they got to the house and Dalia told him the guy was Fidel Castro. He was in shock. He said that Dalia met Fidel because she was working at the Institute of Agrarian Reform as a switchboard operator. After the revolution, Castro had offices there. Dalia must be 59-60 now and they have five sons (Alejandro, Alexis, Angel, Antonio, Alexander).
THE MAXIMUM LEADER
Luis Aguilar Leon remembers watching Fidel speak before a half-million people in Havana soon after the Revolution . Che Guevara preceded Fidel at the podium as did Camilo Cienfuegos. "But the people in the audience kept talking with some applause but not much. And then Fidel came to the balcony and put his finger to his lips, and said, 'shhh, shhh.' And suddenly you could see the silence extended like an invisible wave, and half a million Cubans became quiet. And then like a wave coming back, you heard the roar, 'Fi-del, Fi-del, Fi-del!' And then I thought never again anyone can approach him and say, 'you are wrong, Fidel!" You will never believe that you are wrong again."
Salvador Lew - University friend; Miami radio host
Fidel Castro did not want American aid. He needed to have the U.S. as his enemy to achieve his goals. In early '59, a friend who was a contact to the U.S Embassy came to me and told me, "Go and see Castro and tell him that you have $200,000,000 for his government," which in 1959 was a lot of money. So I went to see Conchita Fernandez, Fidel's secretary and I told Conchita I have $200,000,000 for the new government. Conchita told Raul. The answer of Fidel was, "Salvador is a very serious guy. Give me all his numbers. I'm personally going to call him." He never called me. He didn't want that money from me. He knew the Russians were going to give it to him.
Later, when I represented the Miami law office for Cuba, the owner of the office called me. This was late 1959 when Castro was complaining that he couldn't get weapons to buy. These men came to my office and said we want to sell American weapons to the Cuban government- whatever Castro wants. Planes, tanks, anything. I said how could they do that with the Embargo? They said legally through a third country and at a price lower than the world market's.
So I went to Fidel Castro's office. He called me the next morning and said that Raul appreciated it very much but that he had a better offer. You see he felt he had to take on the United States - a superpower 90 miles away - in order to get international stature for himself.
Frank Manitzas - former ABC Latin America Bureau Chief.
At the time of Gorbachev's visit to Cuba, there was a reception limited to certain members of the press and from the American television side, it was myself, Peter Jennings, Brokaw, and Dan Rather. Peter had come with his wife Kati Marton I told Kati, "They're not going to meet Castro but you are going to meet Castro." And she said, why? "Because you are wearing the right kind of dress and you're a beautiful woman."
So, Fidel and Gorbachev are coming and Dan Rather gets out in the middle, and starts, "Mr. President you may remember" And two guys pull him off to the side. And then Brokaw goes to try, and he couldnêt do it and neither could Peter, they were all pushed to the side. And then Fidel beelines towards us and said to me, "You're here again?" And I said yes, in Spanish, the reason I am here is because Kati here, the wife of Peter Jennings, is celebrating her birthday, and she came here to celebrate in Havana.
And he said, "Que Bueno!" He gives her a birthday kiss on the cheek. Gorbachev takes her hand, kisses her hand. And then Fidel asks, "Where's Peter?" And I say he's over there. And he calls out, "Hello Peter." They wave and off they went.
Tom Brokaw
I was speaking with Gorbachev at the reception in Havana and introduced Dan Rather to him. And Castro came busting in to this intimate circle. He was in full military fatigues and he began this staccato, rapid fire Spanish kind of soliloquy. We had to wait for the interpretation and Gorbachev was watching me and kind of rolling his eyes. And then the interpretation came and it was roughly this: Gorbachev don't have anything to do with Brokaw and Rather. They come down here and interview us for hours on end, they take it back to New York, it's thirty seconds on the air, they get paid millions of dollars and we get nothing! He wasn't really angry. He was posing - doing the full Castro.
Saul Landau - author and documentary filmmaker of Castro.
I watched him at a pick-up baseball game where he starts kidding around and takes a few swings and can't connect. First he's joking and then he gets angry and he puts on the pitcher's jersey and it's very clear that we were going to stay there until he succeeded in hitting. And finally he hits one out of the park. At that point he takes off his jersey and we all leave. He's a man that never quits.
Bernardo Benes - former Miami banker; negotiated the first Dialogue with Castro in 1978.
Every meeting started at ten o'clock for ten hours or eight hours til the morning. He slept in the morning. He's not a Cuban and he doesn't have the Cuban sense of humor. We were smoking a lot of Cohibas. Because at that time, he created the Cohiba cigar--he used to flick the ashes all over the floor. We smoked two boxes of Cohibas in a night. He has an unbelievable memory. He knew all my life, that I was born in Matanzas to Cuban Jews. He said to me in passing, "as you know, I have Jewish ancestors." I think on his father's side. He said he wanted Cuba to be a second Israel.
Lazaro Acensio
You know that the only Cuban that has pissed on Fidel is my son. We used to live in Santa Clara by this highway on the outskirts, and my son Lazarito was about 2 years old. In the 1950's, every time Fidel went by Santa Clara, he would come to my house and eat with us. Back then we had cloth diapers and Lazarito would get so hot, he took off his diaper. One day, Fidel goes "Ay Lazaro, your son is so beautiful!" and he picks up Lazarito who pisses all over Fidel from head to toes.
Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo - revolutionary hero, later imprisoned for 22 years.
When Fidel Castro started his revolution, he only spoke of a revolution as Cuban as the palm trees but then, Fidel separated himself from that revolution and carried on his own caudillista revolution. So, I abandoned the country and I never saw Castro again until I organized the guerilla organization Alpha 66. We started commando operations against military installations in Cuba until I was caught. They captured me and put me in a plane took me to somewhere in the center of Cuba. Fidel started the interrogation with a very big smile, saying, "Eloy, I knew that you would come and I knew that I would capture you. Do you know that we are going to execute you.?"
There were people outside of Cuba who were asking that he not kill me - from Franco to the American government etc. so he was looking for a way out. I did not have to say a lie to save my life. I was delighted. Then Fidel said he was hungry and had to go and eat.I was sentenced to 30 years in prison, plus an additional 25 years for leading counter-revolutionary activity. I always thought I would die in prison. Every two or three years, an official from Fidel would come to see me and offer me freedom if I would commit to a rehabilitation plan. I could have got out in the third year if I accepted his conditions. I lost the sight of one eye and the hearing in one ear and have several broken ribs from the beatings because I was a plantado (objector) and refused to do prison work and wear a prison uniform. As a political prisoner, I wore only underwear for 20 of those years. Now I am blind in both eyes.
Former Cuban soldier -(requests anonymity) -who fought in Angola in the 1970's.
In Angola, everyday at 6 o'clock, (General) Cintra Frias would communicate with Fidel, who would dictate exactly what he wanted done. He micro-managed the entire war from Havana. Cintra Frias would explain what the situation on the battlefield was but Fidel would make the final decisions -in exacting detail. Once, he asked the color of our uniforms and of the enemy and ordered us to change our uniforms. And, of course, we got very impatient with him. We're over here trying to stay alive. Cintra Frias said "what do you care about the color of the troops?" And Fidel went nuts, and screamed "Comemierdas! (literally shiteaters) You can't do it that way!" He knew everything - the exact terrain, where the troops were going to move etc. And he even knew that the color of the foliage was about to turn to yellow, not dark green and would not adequately camouflage us. It turned out he was right.
European Ambassador's wife living in Havana (requests anonymity)
Fidel visited us several times for dinner. Before he arrives, someone calls from the Ministry of Interior and asks a lot of questions -like who works in the kitchen and who comes and goes etc.
They asked that there be a bathroom that only Fidel would use on that day and evening. They told me to leave the paper wrapping on the soap and the wrapping on the toilet paper. They don't take any chances.
CASTRO FAMILY VALUES
There is no more enduring legacy of the Cuban Revolution than the shattered family. And Castro's and his former in-laws the Diaz-Balarts are no exception. Rafael Diaz-Balart, as Max Lesnick, explained, was once very close with Castro. "He recognized in Fidel a very important figure but Rafael was also a great speaker and he was a restless man. His father was a good friend of Batista. What's happening today with Rafael Diaz-Balart and his son Lincoln and Fidel - has nothing to do with ideology. This is opportunism and the bitter quarrel of a divided family."
American nuclear scientist (requests anonymity)
Fidelito Castro (Fidel and Mirtaês son) has new offices and is working again with Cubaês half built nuclear reactor - which is not the same model as the one used at Chernobyl (he was demoted for several years). Actually, it's a pretty safe design - even by American standards. Fidelito left his Russian wife and is now married to a Cuban and has three kids. He got in trouble when he was stationed in Geneva and was living this high-flying life which is a big no-no with his father. He's back in power and is a pretty serious guy but he likes the nightlife. He's a very nice man. You can see him at the Tropicola nightclub near the Marina Hemingway.
Lazaro Acensio
In 1959, Fidel's brother, Ramon, who was in charge of the family farm went to see Fidel after Fidel summoned for him. We were friends and I saw him go on his way in. When Ramon came out from his meeting with Fidel, he said to me, "Lazaro, I went in rich and I came out poor." Fidel had taken the farm away from him. His half-brother Pedro Emilio and Lidia were from the first marriage. In March of 1959 Fidel and I went to get a cup of coffee and Pedro Emilio was there, and he liked to drink a lot. We sat down for the coffee and a soldier says "Hey Fidel, Pedro Emilio is over there drinking." So Fidel stands up and goes over to him and says "Pedro Emilio, why are you wearing the 26 of July captain's uniform when you never did any fighting against Batista? And there's an order that those in uniform can't be drinking" Pedro Emilio says "So what, I'm not going to do what you're going to do." "What am I going to do?" "You're going to finish off Cuba" Right then and there they took Pedro Emilio to jail.
Friend of Mirta Diaz-Balart
I was with Mirta at her house in Havana when Fidel Castro marched into the city. And Fidel was atop this Sherman tank with Huber Matos and Fidelito. Mirta had a group of friends over and we were watching it on live TV and Mirta said, " Ah, poor Cuba. If he's as good a ruler as he was a father, than poor Cuba!" That's what she said because he was a terrible father and husband.
Juanita Castro
My mother, Lina, died in my house in 1963. A massive heart attack. One afternoon around 5 p.m., she was finishing her bath she had a strong pain in her chest. We sent word immediately to Fidel and Raul as well. When she died they came to my house as soon as they found out. There are people who say that Fidel didn't come, but he was immediately at my house. I can't say how sad Fidel was but Raul was very affected by her death. He had been her favorite because he was so caring. From the moment Raul came to my house, he was with us the whole time. We went to Oriente by train. Fidel flew. He met us at the train station but he didn't go on the train trip.
At the beginning, my mother supported the Revolution, of course. But later she had problems. She was their mother also. She used to joke about the situation. My father helped Fidel a lot. Dad wanted Fidel to study, to begin his career as a lawyer, to become a good man, to get out of the university struggles. He always worried. When Fidel was a prisoner, dad suffered much those two years. He never saw Fidel again because after prison. Fidel never visited him. He promised to go and see him but he never did.
Lazaro Acensio
After Batista's coup in March, 1952, Fidel was in Santa Clara and said, "I need to borrow your car." I said sure and Fidel and another guy took these two young girls for a ride. .About 6 a.m., he returned and caught the train back to Havana.
Eight years later - after the Revolution, I am back in Santa Clara at my family's notary office sitting at my desk and I see the young lady from that day holding the hand of a little girl. She asked me "do you know who this girl is? This is my daughter. And she is Fidel Castro's daughter, and the relationship began in your car." She said, "all I want is that when you see Fidel you tell him that I had a daughter with him." When I saw Fidel in Havana I said, "look, there's this girl who came to see me and told me she had a daughter with you. She said she had been unable to get to you. " And he said, "it's true."
I learned that later he put Raul in charge to take care of the little girl, he organized parties for her. He gave her a good house in Santa Clara, and the little girl grew up and today must be forty-something. Now she's here in Miami She's here now in Miami. She's 48.
Fidel told me one night - he used to talk with me a lot late at night - that he had over 15 children.
Juanita Castro
She came to Miami about 2 years ago, she's a nice girl. Her name is Francisca. She teaches in a day care school. She came with her husband when she won a visa from the lottery. Fidel took care of her. Her mother married a man who adopted her. I help her with some money every month "She's not bitter. She doesn't want to say anything bad about Fidel. He's her father and she doesn't want to say anything that can hurt him. And I respect her decision.
THE FUTURE
Castro these days, to some observers, often seems lonely or bored. A half dozen of his old friends from the University who fled into exile soon after the Revolution, visit him periodically. Castro relishes these visits and lavishes his attention and amenities upon them. Almost weekly, he dines with one of the many visiting contingents to Cuba - sometimes movie stars like Kevin Costner or visiting U.S. senators or just ordinary American tourists thumbing their noses at the Embargo. Some attribute it to his self-imposed aloofness from the Cuban people, others say it's his ongoing love-hate affair with the United States and his determination to conquer it - even if it means seducing one American at a time.
Luis Ortega
At this time of his life, he is remembering the old friends. He is sentimental. You see, a man like Fidel, at this moment, maybe he feels alone. He wants to talk to the people who were friends many years ago. He has a lot of nostalgia. For example, in his office at the palace he has a very large photograph of his father wearing a guayabera. Looking like an old campesino farmer.
Michael Fuchs - former chief of HB.O
It was July 1994 we went to Havana. We had dinner with Fidel at the house that Ted Turner was staying in, one of the protocol houses. They're buddies. Fidel obviously likes Ted very much. He arrived, and I thought he looked incredibly tired and gray I would presume at that time it was quite a stressful time with the Russians gone. He had a doctor with a defibilator who came with him. We thought that maybe he had heart problems. When we asked, someone said that heêd just been scuba diving.
The Last Cuba/U.S. Showdown: Elian Gonzalez
Joan Brown Campbell, Former head of the National Council of Churches involved in the Elian negotiations
Castro always said, even in the beginning, that getting (Elian back) was going to take a long time. He said, 'I have been through 41 years of U.S. policy and 9 presidents.
Then it took seven hours to convince Fidel Castro to go along with hiring Greg Criag. The meeting with Fidel lasted seven hours from 5 in the afternoon to 11 at night at the Palace of the Revolution in a small conference room there. In the beginning the interaction between Greg Craig and Fidel was like a duel- two brilliant men, both lawyers. Castro carefully took Craig through every step of the case, every ruling, every event, every possibility without a single piece of paper in front of him: he knew every date, every name, he knew every detail.
And then Castro said, "in 41 years, we have never won a case in the U.S., so what makes you think we'll win this one?" I said I don't know whether you'll win but you won't get this boy back without a good lawyer. Castro refused to sign anything, he said that Juan Miguel will finally make this decision. Juan Miguel then called Greg Craig. Greg said to Castro very clearly that I will be the lawyer for Juan Miguel and he will be my client and I will do what he asks me to do. Greg made that point at least five times. Fidel said over and over that I have great respect for this young man - do what he asks you to do.
Jerry Brown - mayor of Oakland.
We were drinking mojitos after lunch in Havana and then Castro said, 'come out to Santa Clara and take a look. I'd like you to see the 26 of July rally and I'd like you to meet Elian and his father." So I drove out with Alarcon and Phillip Agee who was my travel agent. Elian was playing outside with his cousin. At dinner Juan Miguel Gonzalez was very quiet. He doesn't say much. The whole family was there - the grandparents - all of them. They came by - and Castro walked around and sort of bestowed darshan on everybody.
This kid, Elian, is really destined to do some great stuff, that's all I can say. That's definitely the attitude and feeling on the part of Castro. It's like Fidel's obsessed with Elian. There was a lot of conversation about Elian and what this meant in America and shifting public opinion against the Miami critics. He feels good, it almost feels (to him) like (Elian) was providential and he definitely sees him as a remarkable little boy. Castro is always going to make sure the kid gets whatever he needs to advance himself. I think he's grooming him to be his successor.
Joan Brown Campbell
I went to visit them in late March and I went for Elian's 7th birthday party last December. I went to the house afterwards, but it was like a mob scene. All the kids in the school were at the party. And Fidel was there. He was very good with those kids. I was amazed. He knows exactly how to talk to kids. And he went to the Gonzalez house for lunch with them. The lunch, he said, was only for the family.
The only thing different is that he's driven to and from school because they don't want anybody to come along and do anything to him. Elian wears his little uniform- a young Pioneer like the rest of them. The most dramatic thing about him is that he looks so much younger now. He looks like a kid. I didn't realize how stressed he looked when he was in Miami.
At the birthday, Fidel was talking to all the kids, joking around with them and he said to Elian, "so Elian, I hear you have a girlfriend? And you wrote her a letter." And Elian pipes up in front of everyone and says, 'I flushed it down the toilet, I don't love her anymore." Fidel broke up. Elian is not scared of anybody.
Al Fox - President of the Alliance for Responsible Cuba Policy.
The birthday party at Elian's school was like a school assembly, so the whole student body participated in this event, and, you know, they had a skit, kids, and then and Castro was there. The program is over and they asked Elian to get up and speak. Everybody started chanting Elian, Elian, but he wouldn't speak. And so Castro got up to speak. And while he was speaking, then Elian just walked right up to the microphone and started speaking and talking to his cousin. Elian started teasing his cousin, he's laughing and you can see heês very happy. He didn't think twice about interrupting Fidel Castro. That is what was so hilarious about it. Castro just kind of shrugged his shoulders -and the facial expression on Castro, that's what I thought was really hilarious. His eyes wide open. He just stepped back and he was laughing. He was startled at first. But then all attention focused to Elian, and then even after Elian made a couple of comments to his cousin, and you know, was up there 45 seconds or so, then Castro started to engage him in a conversation and then he just ran and sat down in his seat. But when Castro continued to talk, Elian's stepbrother, Hianny, went walking up to him, and got between Castro's legs and everybody laughed about that. In 15 years, in 2016, Fidel Castro will be 90 and Elian Gonzalez will be 22.
Salvador Lew
Fidel Castro will die in his bed when he feels like it.