During my 1982 visit I had not expected to meet President Castro. A few hours before my departure I was informed that President Castro would receive me.
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose—the more you change things, the more they remain the same.
Early this week Cuba turned history’s page. The close-fisted one-party rule of the Castros ended. Not quite. Although the ruling Communist Party President, Miguel Diaz-Canel replaced Raul Castro as party chief. He was quick to declare that he would continue to keep in close touch with Raul Castro on important matters.
In January 1959, the charismatic Marxist revolutionary leader Fidel Castro overthrew the corrupt Batista dictatorship (he was an American stooge) and installed a communist government, 90 miles south of Florida. The US tried to overthrow the Fidel Castro regime for five decades without success. However, the US has not given up. President Barack Obama dramatically altered America’s Cuban policy, re-opening the American embassy in Havana.
The first indication of this change occurred at Mr Nelson Mandela’s funeral, when Obama shook Raul Castro’s hand. President Trump overturned Obama’s policies. No one now seems to recall that 30 years ago, the communist world extended from Vladivostok to Poland. The USSR was a superpower, with 12 other communist countries as its client allies.
I have visited Cuba twice. Once in 1982 as Secretary General Designate of the seventh Non-Aligned Summit, which was to be held on 7 March 1983 in New Delhi. President Castro had been Chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement for the past three years. He was to hand over the Non-Aligned baton to Indira Gandhi in March 1983.
During my 1982 visit I had not expected to meet President Castro. A few hours before my departure I was informed that President Castro would receive me. I can’t say I was not excited. After all I would be meeting a living legend. I had one worry. My luggage with my suit in it had already gone to the airport. I was in my trousers and bush shirt. The only consolation was that no one in Havana (except for foreign diplomats) wore suits.
I was with the Cuban President for half-an-hour. Fifteen minutes taken by the interpreter. President Castro after welcoming me informed me that he was reading “Annapurna” by a Swiss (I think it was Swiss) author Herzog. “Who are the Gurkhas?” he enquired. I told him what I knew: “They came mostly from Nepal, are short, fair and valiant soldiers.” Next question. “What are they doing in the Falkland Island?” he asked. The Falkland war between Britain and Argentina was on. I told the Cuban leader that there was a Gurkha Regiment in the British army. Perhaps it was with the British attacking forces.
I noticed he was not smoking a cigar. At the airport I was given a box of Cuban Cohiba cigars, the best in the world. These were selling in the USA in the black market, 20 dollars per cigar. Each box had 12 cigars.
President Fidel Castro arrived in New Delhi on the evening of 6 March 1983. He inaugurated the 7th summit at 11 am. The afternoon session began at 3 pm. I sat at the Presidential table with President Castro. He announced, “I now invite Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to join me.”
She was sitting on the Indira table in the conference hall, Vigyan Bhawan. I walked down to where she was sitting and escorted her to the table. President Castro hugged her. He was 6 feet 4 inches tall. Mrs Gandhi, 5’3”. It was quite a sight. Indira Gandhi took her seat on the chair next to Castro’s. I was seated on his left. When Jana Gana Mana was played, all including the incoming and outgoing chairman stood up. The photograph of Indira Gandhi, Castro and K. Natwar Singh made the front page of almost every newspaper in the world. It was with some effort that I avoided getting a swollen head.
The summit went off without a flaw, under Indira Gandhi’s chairmanship. It was a triumph for her. She was generous enough to bestow the Padma Bhushan on me on 26 January 1984.