Fidel Castro Makes His Pitch to the U.S. Press in Havana

Late Friday night in the Palace de la Revolucion, Cuban President Fidel Castro, dressed in green army fatigues starched so tight they could stand at attention in his closet without a hangar, greeted organizers of the X Pan American Games in Indianapolis.

The expressed purpose of the meeting was to discuss the organizers’ preparations for the Games to be held Aug. 7-23, specifically in areas that affect Cuba’s team.

But Castro also had other things on his mind. You know what they say. With spring, a man’s fancy turns to baseball.

“Who is the best pitcher in the big leagues?” he asked.

The 13 members of the Organizing Committee, PAX-I, debated among themselves. Some said Boston’s Roger Clemens, some said Houston’s Mike Scott, some said the Dodgers’ Fernando Valenzuela.

Castro, once a pitcher of some note himself, nodded when he heard the names Clemens and Scott. He said he knew of them.

But, he asked, who is Valenzuela?

An aide explained that Valenzuela, was discovered for the Dodgers in Mexico by a Cuban expatriate, Mike Brito.

Ah yes, Castro said, now he remembered.

Of the 1 hour 15 minutes that he met with the organizers, about half was devoted to baseball. He was particularly interested in their opinions of artificial turf, which the Cubans do not have, and metal bats, which they do.

“The meeting was lighthearted, almost social,” said Mark Miles, PAX-I president.

This was in stark contrast to Miles’ last visit here in June, when Castro accused the organizers of bribing Pan American Sports Organization (PASO) officials to award the 1987 Games to Indianapolis instead of Havana.

But he apparently was appeased in November when PASO selected Cuba as host of the 1991 Pan American Games.

When he met with 11 American reporters at midnight in a conference room near his office, he was in a jovial, expansive mood.

The gestures he made with his delicate, manicured hands were passionate; he often emphasized points by poking his finger in a reporter’s chest. But, speaking through an interpreter, his voice was barely above a whisper, something like Marlon Brando’s in “The Godfather.”

“There were no problems to discuss,” Castro said of his meeting with the organizers, who were in Havana for four days to discuss the Pan American Games with Cuban Olympic Committee officials.

“I think they had already found a harmony and a common spirit of cooperation. So I didn’t have to do any work in that direction. It was really a very simple, easy talk.”

Manuel Guerra, Cuban Olympic Committee president, threatened Thursday to withdraw Cuba’s 455 athletes from the Games if they are not allowed to charter Cuban flights directly to the United States.

As the two countries have no formal diplomatic relations, the Cubans must receive permission for such a request from the U.S. State Department.

Castro said he believes the State Department will grant approval.

“Difficulties are not to be expected,” he said. “It wouldn’t be logical because these activities are of interest not only to Indianapolis but also for all the United States people, as well.

“This activity doesn’t hurt anyone. This activity, I think, is positive for the United States. It’s useful for the United States, and it’s useful for relations among all people of the hemisphere.

“That’s why, for me, it wouldn’t be logical for inconveniences of any sort to emerge.”

Guerra also said Thursday that Castro would consider attending the Indianapolis Games if invited by President Reagan.

Castro confirmed that, then made light of the possibility.

“I think you’d better ask the chief of police in Indianapolis,” Castro said. “It would be too much trouble for him. I think it would multiply his work.”

Miles said Tuesday the State Department will not issue Castro an invitation.

In that event, Castro said he will watch the Games on television. PAX-I officials announced here Friday that the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television has agreed to pay $350,000 in rights fees for 220 hours of programming, 110 hours each on radio and television.

“I take my vacation often in August, and I think I will have plenty of free time to enjoy the Games,” Castro said.

PAX-I officials were not certain until late Friday night that they would meet with Castro, although there had been subtle hints earlier in the week that it would be arranged.

They went to a reception Friday night at a receiving area for foreign diplomats, La Cecilia. The host was Jose Ramon Fernandez, Cuba’s minister for education, health and sports. He was in a buoyant mood because Friday was the 26th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion. Fernandez was the captain of the militia that helped thwart the attack.

At 10 p.m., PAX-I officials were summoned to a bus, which took them on the 20-minute ride to the Palace de la Revolucion.

Fifteen minutes later, American reporters were also taken by bus to the palace, which is not a palace at all but a fairly typical government office building.

While PAX-I officials met with Castro in his office, the reporters waited for an hour and a half in a conference room. On the blackboards were plans for Cuba’s May Day celebration. Also in the room were seven models for a monument to Celia Sanchez, Castro’s confidante and companion who died of cancer in 1980.

A sparrow flew about the room.

At midnight, reporters were told to follow non-uniformed security personnel into another conference room, where Castro, his aides and PAX-I officials had gathered.

Security was not extreme. While briefcases, hand bags, cameras and tape recorders were hand-checked, there were no metal detectors or X-ray machines. No one was frisked.

After the reporters were introduced to Castro, a few asked him to autograph baseballs they had received earlier in the day at a Havana sports factory.

“It’s good propaganda for us,” Castro said, laughing and stroking his shaggy, gray beard.

Noting that several of the reporters were sportswriters, he asked about Ronald Reagan’s former career as a radio sportscaster and then recalled that a fellow revolutionary, Che Guevara, also had written about sports.

“He used to write for an Argentinian newspaper,” Castro said. “I don’t know what sports he specialized in.”

Castro said he preferred not to answer questions about politics, but he spoke at length in response to questions about Cuba’s efforts to eradicate AIDS. He said that there are 108 AIDS carriers on the island but that only two have contracted the disease. Those figures have been disputed by Cuban expatriates in the United States.

Castro’s knowledge of the subject is indicative of his interest in health issues. As part of Cuba’s anti-smoking campaign, he gave up his trademark cigars three years ago.

“I knew when I quit smoking, that would be the last sacrifice I would make for public health in Cuba,” he said.

“That’s very much related to the campaign we have been working on in the struggle against obesity, sedentariness and smoking.

“Of course, we wouldn’t have been able to conduct an effort against smoking if we came before the people smoking cigars.”

Castro said he participated in numerous sports as a high school student, but while he appears trim and fit at age 61, he said he now limits himself to swimming and scuba diving.

“After the revolution, I sometimes played baseball and sometimes basketball,” he said.

“But in order to practice baseball, you need a whole stadium and you need lots of people involved. At one in the morning, who wants to play? Sometimes that’s the only time I have free.”

Castro is notorious for his nocternal habits. When Peter Ueberroth, as president of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, came to Havana in an attempt to persuade Cuban officials not to boycott the 1984 Olympic Games, Castro kept him waiting until after midnight.

“Yes, I do regret it,” Castro said when asked Friday night about the boycott by Socialist countries.

“We did not attend just out of solidarity (with the Soviet Union). It was not because of reasons of security. We had no concerns about security.

“I would say our relations in the sports field (with the United States) are excellent.”

While Ueberroth was in Cuba, he already had accepted a position as commissioner of baseball. Castro said he spoke with him about the possibility of a series between a Cuban team and a major league team.

“Of course, it’s not up to him only,” Castro said. “It depends on other interests. Perhaps none of the big league teams want to risk being defeated by one of our teams.

“I am convinced our national team can compete with the big league teams. Of course, we already compete with amateur teams. In that sense, we have an advantage. Many of the best baseball players (in the United States) jumped to the pros, and our people do not.

“So, in order to really measure the degree of development, the power, of both nations in baseball, we would have to organize systematic periodical contests between a selection from the big leagues or a championship team from the major leagues and one of our teams. That I have raised more than once.”

Castro’s meeting with the press ended 55 minutes after it started when a photographer asked to take a picture of him with the organizers.

“What,” Castro said, laughing, “so that they can be criticized later for having come to Cuba?

“No? OK, let’s have the picture taken to have a good memory.”

After pictures were taken, Castro left the conference room, his aides following, and returned to his office. For him, the night was still young.