Castro seeks out Robert Redford

[Osolomia]

Mon 26 January, 2004 22:46

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban President Fidel Castro, who has charmed some of Hollywood's biggest names, has paid a call on Robert Redford at his Havana hotel and discussed his latest film, on revolutionary icon Che Guevara.

Redford was in Cuba over the weekend wearing his producer's hat for a private screening of "The Motorcycle Diaries" for the widow and children of the legendary Argentine guerrilla fighter, who was Castro's comrade-in-arms.

"He came to me. ... He seemed in good health, good humour, good spirit," Redford said of the 77-year-old Cuban leader after their brief encounter at the Hotel Nacional on Monday.

Redford last saw Castro in 1988. The actor was said to have gone scuba-diving with the Cuban leader and was questioned by U.S. officials on his return to the United States.

More...
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Entertainment/reuters20040126_408.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. In good health, he says! Ha, ha, ha.

Apparently he hasn't heard the news from Miami! I'll bet Fidel Castro is feigning wellness.

You recall the noise made last week when the Mayor of Bogota claimed he had first hand knowledge the President of Cuba was on his last legs.

(snip) Posted on Wed, Jan. 21, 2004

Greeting Christian leader, Castro deflects rumors of ill health
BY TRACEY EATON AND ALFREDO CORCHADO
The Dallas Morning News

HAVANA - (KRT) - Looking relaxed in his trademark olive-green fatigues, Fidel Castro appeared in public twice Wednesday, putting to rest a wave of rumors that he was sick, dead or dying. (snip)

"The comandante looks good," said a Castro aide who identified himself only as Nelson. "The people in Miami want to kill him. They kill him off every year," he said, referring to the recurring rumors of Castro's death. (snip)

Whispers over Castro's health began sweeping through Washington and Miami on Jan. 14 after the mayor of Bogota, Colombia, Luis Garzon, said the Cuban president looked "very sick" and had trouble speaking when they met in December.

The buzz grew after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez made a surprise stop in Havana that day, in what some speculated was a death-bed visit.

By last Friday, South Florida residents were flooding police and government offices with calls, asking if the Cuban president were dead.

At a Miami conference that same day, U.S. officials vowed to send massive humanitarian aid to the island in the event of Castro's death to prevent a deadly flood of migrants to Florida.

"The stakes are very high for us," said Roger Noriega, the State Department's top diplomat for Latin America.
(snip/...)

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/world/7765723.htm

[madrchsod]

2. well lets see

kennedy,johnson,nixon,ford,carter,reagenx2,bush,clintonx2,bush. 3 presidents are dead ,one is gravely ill. and some are older than him. yet he`s still around... like the old timex commercial -"takes a licking and keeps on ticking"
i forgot ike.that makes 4 dead presidents

[Judi Lynn]

3. Maybe, among all the attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro

they may have inadvertantly built up his resistance to disease, poisons, bombs, snipers, etc.!

(snip) A 1975 report filed by Frank Church, head of a Senate-appointed committee investigating governmental intelligence activities, reveals the participation of U.S. authorities in attempts on the life of Fidel Castro. Church quoted a secret report drawn up by CIA general inspector F. S. Earman on May 23, 1967, detailing assassination plans and FBI proposals for seeking ideal subjects to execute them.

Attempts mentioned in the report included: presenting Fidel with a fishing wet suit infected with a lethal bacteria, and a box of poisoned cigars; and planting an explosive device in a shell located in the area where the leader of the Revolution used to practice underwater fishing, among others.

The witness explained in his statement to the court that those plans were based on the concept of plausible negotiation, so that the United States couldn't be accused as planner, instigator and executor in the case of them being discovered.

In his report, Pérez Fernández testified on the different ways in which the hundreds of attempts were devised, taking into consideration the following variants: visits to social objectives; at public events and places; or the infiltration of terrorist commandos.

Many examples were presented at the hearing. These included the Someillán case, consisting of an attempt to kill Fidel as he passed through a previously studied avenue in the capital; or the explosive charges to be detonated by various individuals during the reception for Ahmed Ben Bela and the welcome for Salvador Allende.

Firing on the President with bazookas and machine guns was envisaged in 1961, during a ceremony on the terrace north of the Palace of the Revolution. Logically, the victims would also include members of the public, an aspect of the policy of sowing terror and panic among the population. As one example of the unscrupulous character and murderous instincts of counterrevolutionary elements, the witness referred to the May 1980 sabotage of Havana's Le Van Tan day care center, when 570 children and over 150 workers were present but where, thanks to a rapid response, no human lives were lost.
(snip/...)

http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45/141.html

[Dirk39]

4. C'mon C'mon

Evil communist bastard Castro died a long time ago, at least ten times. It's just communist propaganda, to promote their health-care system. It's a double.
The funniest attempt to damage him, was to put some chemicals in his shoes that would lead to hair-loss. The CIA was convinced that Castro's success has a lot to do with his Macho-image. So they supposed, if they could make him loose his hair, he would be done. I swear it's true!
Hello from Germany,
Dirk

[LostInTheMaise]

5. Good for Redford

I'm sure this will help his career and enhance his income.

[Osolomia]

6. Evidently the Batistianos noses are out of joint

over a film that received a standing ovation at Sundance!