Cuba Travel Journal - Yo Soy Fidel!

Traveling to Cuba has been a life-enhancing journey for me. I made my first trip in March of 2005, and in the ensuing years have returned 23 times!  I'm looking forward to trips 24 and beyond!

After falling in love with all things Cuba on my initial trip and embracing its culture, history and people so profoundly - and honoring her revolutionary spirit - I told the universe one day while walking around Havana, "Universe, please let me be here when Fidel passes".  Fidel being of course, Fidel Castro, Cuba's controversial yet charismatic leader for over 50 years.

My relation to Fidel began long ago.  Growing up, whenever Cuba was mentioned on the news or among family and friends, the name Fidel Castro would invariably come up. Always!  The name of the country and the man were synonymous...one in the same.  I grew up thinking Fidel  Castro was this monster of a man. Portrayed in the U.S. press as this tyrannical and evil no-gooder, I had succumbed to that thinking as well.  

So you can imagine my embarrassment in my 8th grade Spanish class as our teacher "Señor Hopkins" assigned Spanish names to everyone - for example Steven was "Esteban", Michael was "Miguel", Paul was "Paolo" - I knew there was no equivalent for "Byron". I sat there curiously wondering with excitement what name he was possibly going to give me.  When he got to me, he smirked and said, "Byron, you're Fidel"!  Of course the whole class howled with laughter and I was mortified!  I took it as an insult. And to this day I still think Señor Hopkins meant it as a slight.  However, throughout the semester as I thought more about my moniker, I began to embrace it - because I began to realize, Fidel was POWERFUL! Fidel was a LEADER!  

Still, many years later, I was extremely nervous about my inaugural Cuba adventure.  But, not so nervous that it stopped me from contacting Secretary of State Colin Powell's Chief of Staff to see if he could help arrange an interview for me with President Castro for a documentary I am working on about the Negro Baseball Leagues. (More about that in future blogs!) Why Colin Powell, you might ask?  Well, months before I had interviewed him for the documentary, so who better than him to have a contact to Castro's people! Right? I've learned through the years to utilize every contact you've got to try to achieve the goal you want. Piece 'em all together!  

Bill Smullen, Powell's staff chief indeed gave me the contact info to one of Fidel's personal doctors. To make a long story short, I did not get the interview but I spent an afternoon with the doctor doing some baseball research believe or not and hearing some interesting stories about Comandante Fidel! I began to gain a new respect for the man. Hearing a completely different perspective, from not only the doctor but many other Cubans was eye-opening to say the least.

At the end of our afternoon together the doctor told me, "I will do everything I can to get you this interview, but I cannot make any promises. Fidel is a very busy man. BUT, you should know that he likes to work late at night, so if it were to happen, don't be surprised if you get a knock on your door at 2 or 3 o'clock in the evening from someone coming to get you to go meet him"! Needless to say, each of those 10 nights I slept with one eye open, praying for the knock that unfortunately never came.

I never got to meet Fidel, but I have gotten to know what I consider to be the next-best-thing in Cuba! His niece, Dr. Mariela Castro-Espin.  She is also the daughter of now President Raul Castro, and a member of Cuba's parliamentary government and Director of Cuba's Center for Sexual Education (CENESEX) in Havana.  She also wrote the Foreword for my photo book "Embracing Cuba"!  I first met Mariela in 2009 for a photo shoot and article for The Advocate magazine.  Our bonding and kinship were immediate and we've been friends and allies for the movement for equality for all citizens of the world ever since. 

Byron with Dr. Mariela Castro-Espin - Havana, 2013

Fast forward to late November 2016 and I'm in Havana to attend its International Dog Show. Yes, Cuba has a Dog Show and its a hoot! More on that too in a future blog!  After returning to my casa on the evening of November 25th and preparing for bed, President Raul appeared on the television around 11:30pm and announced the death of Fidel Castro. In an instant an era had passed.  As I lay in bed tossing and turning trying to process what I had just heard, I remembered my prayer from years earlier, and I thanked the universe for granting my wish for the opportunity to be an eyewitness to an important part of Cuba and world history! 

Mourner at Fidel Castro memorial - Havana, 2016

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