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As Fidel Castro celebrates his 80th birthday today -- in both uncertain physical and political condition -- he remains the central figure in Cuban life, to both supporters and opponents. Meeting and interviewing Castro, whatever you think of him, makes you realize you are walking in the shadow of a lot of history... the revolution, his early visits to the U.S, including the tumultuous welcome in Harlem and his appearance on Meet the Press (speaking English, and denying he was a Communist).
I first met Castro when I went to Cuba in 1999 to cover the conflict over Elian Gonzalez. After days of trying to get to see him, we were finally summoned for a get-acquainted dinner. Each of us were taking the measure of the other, as you can probably gather from this photo. We talked about a lot of issues, of course, including the custody dispute over the 6-year-old boy. Many hours later we had an agreement that eventually led to his sitting down with us and talking on camera.
This second picture was taken a year-and-a-half later, in June 2001. Castro had fainted during a speech. I rushed from vacation in Colorado to Cuba to report on his condition. Two days later, hearing that he was at Cuba television, I asked for a chance to see him. Somehow, I talked him into going on camera later that week to prove to the world that he was really all right. We waited for the call, and when it finally came, began the interview at 11 p.m. During the interview, he said for the first time that his brother Raul would be his successor. It may be temporary, but that has now come about.
Editor's note: Andrea wrote a longer analysis of the situation in Cuba and Fidel Castro's health for MSNBC.com that you can read here.
Read more from Andrea Mitchell
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An "Intense" Sunday
I will say it again: After 45 years of sore-head US policy, Fidel Castro has done a commendable job of leading his country. Despite that 8 US presidents have tried to starve that country, he still offers to export medical help after Katrina. I sure hope the defenders of demockery in the White House supress the raging urge they have to destroy countries for their own good in Cuba.
(Sent Aug 15, 2006 10:53:58 AM)
It is pretty bad for any society to be on a "death watch" hoping somebody else dies just to ease tensions. As a buddhist, one of our primary goals is to try and feel genuin compassion for everyone regardless of what they did in life. People who do bad things are suffering from delusions based on their conditioning in life. Think of how a doctor does not get angry towards a patient who (in the depths of some bad fever) hits him without knowing what they were doing. We understand that it is not the patients fault but the fever that made them do it. And instead of hate, we feel even more compassion.
One particular reason for not hatting someone is the general understanding of Karma. Karma is a law that says that our past actions have brought upon us a given Karma that we have to learn from. It is a law as real as the fact that if you were to were to step out of a second floor window, you WOULD break your leg. Under this law we gain the insite that if it wasn't Fidel Castro himself that did something wrong, it would be someone else. Thus why hate anyone when it is we who brought this trouble upon ourselves?
Buddhism isn't about letting people walk all over you and trying to make an excuse for accepting it. It is a simple understanding that we are here to improve ourselves and that hate gets us absolutely nowhere. It is the worst possible offence to our true nature and only make ourselves feel bad - not them...
Author Chris Eldridge (Sent Aug 14, 2006 11:50:02 AM)
It is not the responbsibility of a state to be a democracy but it is the responsibility of a State to be accountable for its actions among the community of Nations who call themselves States. When India and Pakistan stood on the brink of a nuclear Armageddon, they were failing the test of accountability and were prepared to destroy their populations on behalf of a religious war that made a mockery of statehood. Lebanon has played a duplicitous game as a State and its people are paying a terrible price. They did this to avoid another civil war. In 1948 when Israel faced the same crisis, they turned on and fired on their own well armed militia, the Irgun, and didn't hesitate to do that even though it could have meant and nearly did, civil war.
Sandy, Boston, MA (Sent Aug 13, 2006 10:54:12 AM)
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