Cuba & The U. S. Try Peace
In this photo -- first week of January, 1959 -- Fidel Castro was 32.
Today -- Saturday, July 18th, 2015 -- Fidel Castro is 88-years-old, just days shy of his 89th birthday on August 13th. Still alert mentally, and surprisingly strong at two public appearances recently, he is living out his life in his modest home in western Havana. Dalia, his wife since 1980 and the mother of five of his sons, is his prime care-taker and she also minutely dictates who gets to visit him. Their son Alexander, a professional photographer, also closely monitors and fawns over his father.
Two days from now -- on Monday, July 20th, 2015 -- a momentous event in the contentious history of the United States and Cuba will unfold. For the first time in over half a century, on Monday a United States flag will be raised to open an embassy in Havana and a Cuban flag will be raised to open an embassy in Washington.
Back in April -- at the Summit of the Americas in Panama -- 84-year-old Cuban President Raul Castro and 53-year-old American President Barack Obama shook hands and agreed to end almost six decades of hostility, which reached a Hot War/Cold War/regime change-type of crescendo after the Cuban Revolution overthrew the U.S.-backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship in Cuba on the first day of 1959.
This is one of the most recent photos taken of Fidel Castro. It was at a food seminar just outside Havana two weeks ago when, seated before a microphone, he surprised everyone by speaking for four long hours on the topic of food production. It was almost reminiscent of 7-hour speeches in the hot sun he made before huge audiences in his younger days. As he closes in on 89, he is not overly enthused about Monday when Cuba and the U. S. will, at long last, reopen embassies in their respective capitals. He hasn't said much about it, but he did say this: "There are factions in the United States that can't be trusted, but peace is always better than war. What is happening is worth trying, despite those intent more on war than on peace."
Fidel Castro talking food -- Friday, July 3, 2015.
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