Fidel: A Critical Portrait
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CHAPTER 2
29–35 Faustino Pérez and Universo Sánchez interviews
35 This was a taped MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour interview by Robert MacNeil in February 1985.
CHAPTER 3
37 The Soviet aid figures are calculated at this level by the U. S. government, and not questioned by Cuban officials.
37–38 Castro's discussion of "internationalism" in taped interview with the author in January 1984
38 Castro discussed concealing his Marxism-Leninism in the course of his report to the First Congress of the Cuban Communist party in 1975.
39 The statistics in Castro's speeches on public health appeared in articles in Granma in July 1985.
40–41 Castro discussed speechmaking in interviews with Carlos Franqui in Diary of the Cuban Revolution.
41 Castro's secret speeches were mentioned in private conversations with the author by the president's close associates in Havana.
41–42 The article that made Castro angry was by Juan Luis Cebrián, editor-in-chief of El País of Madrid, published in January 1985.
42–43 On Castro's furies, sources included Ramiro Valdés, and on foul language, Carlos Rafael Rodríguez.
43 Wayne Smith, former chief of the U. S. Interests Section in Havana, in an interview on the reasons for Mariel
44 The author's private interviews on Mexican trip
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46 Castro's concerns with his men were discussed in interviews with Melba Hernández and Pedro Miret. Also in Robert Merle's book on Moncada
46–47 Castro discussed the chaplain with Frei Betto.
47 The author accompanied Castro to the hospital.
47 Armando Hart's account of the meeting was in an interview with the author in May 1985.
48–49 The strike fiasco was discussed with the author by Castro in an
informal meeting and by Faustino Pérez in a taped interview in 1985.
49 Billington discussed Castro in Fire in the Minds of Men—Origins of the Revolutionary Faith (New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1980), pp. 8–9.
49–50 For Castro's views on revolutionary armies, sources range from Régis Debray's Revolution in the Revolution? to Fred C. Judson's Cuba and the Revolutionary Myth and Fidel's speeches at the Debt Conference of Personalities, Havana, August 1985.
51 For March 1959 NSC meeting, see Pamela S. Falk's Cuban Foreign Policy, published in 1986.
52 Faustino Pérez interview with the author in 1985
54 The best estimates on Cuban political prisoners come from Amnesty International and the Americas Watch Committee. Castro's comments were in a conversation with the author in 1985.
55–56 The reconstruction of the Sorí-Marín episode is based on the author's interviews in Miami and Havana.
56 The Cubela story was reconstructed from the author's interviews in Havana and Washington.
57–58 The author discussed Che Guevara with his father, Ernesto Guevara Lynch, in Havana in 1985.
63 Vice-President Fernández told of his first encounters with Castro in interviews with the author in Havana in 1985.
64 Castro discussed "institutions" in interviews with the author in 1984.
65 Rodríguez made the comments on Castro in an interview with the author in 1985.
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69 Correspondence between Fidel and Che appears selectively in Carlos Franqui's Diary of the Cuban Revolution; it is kept in its entirety in the Historical Division of the Council of State, in wartime archives established by Celia Sánchez.
69–70 Castro talked about loneliness in a 1977 television interview with Barbara Walters; he repeated some of it to the author in 1984.
72 Piñeiro told the author about his New York days in a conversation at the presidential palace in 1985.
75 Castro brought up the question of personality cult in conversations with the author in 1984 and 1985.
76 The author and his wife were the recipients of Castro's food gifts and cuisine advice at their Havana house in May 1985.
77–78 Castro explained his information systems in a conversation with the author in 1985.
79 Castro explained his absence from the Moscow funeral in a 1985 interview with Playboy magazine.
80–81 The vignettes on Castro's activities came from the author's interviews with Conchita Fernández in 1985.
Book Two: The Young Years
CHAPTER 1
98 Castro spoke of Céspedes in a speech on October 10, 1968, the centennial anniversary of the first independence war.
102 Castro discussed his mother's religious devotion in interviews with Frei Betto in 1985.
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105 Castro discussed his age in a conversation with the author in 1985.
107 Castro told the story about the "Jew" bird to the author in 1985.
113 Castro told stories about his appendicitis in interviews with Carlos Franqui in 1959, and in a conversation with the author in 1985.
115 Raúl Castro is quoted by Robert Merle.
116 Castro's letters from prison appear in Luis Conte Aguerro's Cartas del Presidio, in Robert Merle's book on Moncada, and in Mario Mencía's Time Was on Our Side.
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118 The Avellaneda Literary Academy story comes from an interview with José Ignácio Rasco.
121–122 Castro discussed his family origins in his letters from prison.
124 Castro discussed the Bible in interviews with Frei Betto.
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139–142 The relationship between Castro and Alfredo Guevara was described by the latter in an interview with the author in 1985.
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147 The birth of the Ortodoxo party, with Castro in attendance, is chronicled by Luis Conte Agüerro in Eduardo Chibás.
149–150 Castro discussed his ideological evolution with Arturo Alape in Havana in 1981.
151 Boardinghouse evenings were described to the author in Miami by George Volsky, who attended some of these soirées.
159–160 Alfredo Guevara told the Demajagua bell story in an interview with the author in 1985.
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165 Moreno Frajinals discussed Fidel's revolutionary impluses in conversations with the author in 1985.
169 Castro's discussion of Perón was included in an interview with the Colombian journalist Arturo Alape in 1981.
173–181 Castro's initial involvement and participation in the Bogotázo is described in this book in a narrative section constructed from four main elements. The first two are an account by Fidel included in Arturo Alape's El Bogotázo: Memorias del Olvidio, and a separate, lengthy interview he granted Alape. The other two are interviews conducted by the author with Alfredo Guevara in Havana in 1985, and with Enrique Ovares in Miami in 1984. Castro, Guevara, and Ovares were the principal Cuban delegates to the Bogotá student congress.
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185–188 The account of Castro's early married life is based on conversations in Havana with personal friends and acquaintances who asked not to be identified.
190–192 The material on Fidel's denunciation of the gangsters and his escape from Havana is based on the author's interviews in Miami with Max Lesnick in 1984 and 1985, and on conversations in Havana in 1985 with Castro's personal friends, who have requested anonymity.
194 Castro's versions of his ideological progress are imprecise and not always consistent. The three versions in this section are from a 1977 interview with Barbara Walters, a 1981 interview with Arturo Alape, and 1985 interviews with Frei Betto. It is impossible to say whether Fidel did not recall exactly what he had said to different persons at different times or whether he tended to tailor versions to his conversational partners, assuming that there would be no comparison of texts. Presumably, Castro does not wish his ideological history to be crystal clear. Alfredo Guevara's comments were made to the author in 1985.
195–197 The material on Castro's law practice is based on interviews conducted by Mario Mencía with Jorge Aspiazo, and on the author's convers
ations with Fidel's personal friends in Havana.
203–208 The section on Castro as candidate is based on interviews in Miami with Raúl Chibás and Max Lesnick, and in Havana with Conchita Fernández, Lionel Martín, and Moreno Frajinals.
Book Three: The War
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215–217 The material on the incipient period of the organization of Castro's revolutionary Movement is based on the author's interviews in Havana with Melba Hernández, Pedro Miret, and Ramiro Valdés.
221–231 The section covering the first phase of the revolutionary Movement is based on lengthy interviews conducted by the author in Havana with Melba Hernández and Pedro Miret; Mario Mencía's interviews with Jorge Aspiazo; Mencía's El Grito de Moncada, Robert Merle's Moncada, and Lionel Martín's The Young Fidel.
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235–238 Pedro Miret and Melba Hernández were the principal sources for the section on the development of the military wing of the Movement. They discussed it in interviews with the author in Havana in 1985. Additional material came from Mencía, Merle, and Martín books.
241–247 The best material on the preparations for Moncada is found in Merle and Mencía books, in the transcripts of Castro's trial, and in Marta Rojas's accounts. Pedro Miret and Melba Hernández supplied eyewitness details in interviews with the author.
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248–256 The story of the days and hours preceding the attack on Moncada is best documented by Merle and Mencía. In interviews with the author, Melba Hernández provided additional recollections—such as Castro's determination to organize weddings.
256–257 The Movement's ideology at the time of Moncada was explained by Castro to Frei Betto in their 1985 interviews. He makes a clear ideological separation between himself and his comrades at that stage.
258 Haydée Santamaría's recollections are contained in a documentary filmed by the Cuban Cinema Institute. A tape of the soundtrack is at the University of Miami along with other tapes related to the production of my book.
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269–281 The best account of the Moncada and Bayamo attacks and their aftermath is contained in Robert Merle's book. Useful material is also found in Marta Rojas's La Generación del Centenário en el Juicio del Moncada, in Castro's trial testimony, and his newspaper and radio interviews after being captured. Melba Hernández, Pedro Miret, and Ramiro Valdés offered me valuable eyewitness accounts in interviews in 1985.
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282–300 Material on Castro's imprisonment, trial, and incarceration is best culled from Merle's Moncada, Marta Rojas's La Generación del Centenário and La Cueva del Muerto, Mencía's Time Was on Our Side, Fidel Castro's own History Will Absolve Me, and Conte Agüerro's Cartas del Presidio. I found much fresh descriptive material in my interviews with Pedro Miret and Melba Hernández, and in a conversation with Raúl Castro—all in Havana in 1985. Fidel contributed anecdotes about his prison life when I accompanied him to the Isle of Youth (Pines) in May 1985.
296–298 The text of "History Will Absolve Me," as it is now widely known, was reconstructed by Fidel from memory during his imprisonment. Marta Rojas, who attended the trial and wrote about it for Bohemia, took some notes, but they are very fragmentary. Inasmuch as Castro quotes himself in the written version, it is really irrelevant whether it is a verbatim rendition of his actual words before the judges. Though immensely articulate and equipped with an amazing memory, Castro is a stylist and a perfectionist, and one must assume that he had polished considerably the written and now official version. No substance changes are known to exist.
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305–314 The incarceration period is best covered by Mencía and in Fidel's prison correspondence appearing in Conte Agüerro's book and in the appendix in Merel's Moncada. Again, Pedro Miret and Melba Hernández provided new material in their 1985 interviews with the author. Ramiro Valdés added details.
315–317 Castro's friends were the principal sources for the account of his divorce proceedings and the custody fight over Fidelito.
322–324 Fidel's reorganization of the Movement is chronicled in a series of articles by Mario Mencía, appearing in Bohemia in Havana during 1985; and in original news stories and articles in Bohemia and La Calle in May–July 1955. Additional information was provided in the author's interviews with Pedro Miret, Melba Hernández, Ramiro Valdés and Armando Hart in Havana in 1985, and with Max Lesnick in Miami.
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325–340 Fidel Castro's stay in Mexico is chronicled in Mario Mencía's Bohemia articles in 1985; in De Tuxpán a La Plata, an account published by the Historical Section of the Central Political Directorate of the Revolutionary Armed Forces in 1979; in General Bayo's memoirs; and in the author's interviews in Havana in 1985 with Pedro Miret, Melba Hernández, Ramiro Valdés, Faustino Pérez, and Universo Sánchez. Also, Max Lesnick was interviewed in Miami, as was Ben S. Stephansky in Washington, D. C.
333–338 Most of the material on the early relations between Fidel and Che Guevara is based on Che Guevara: Años Decisivos by Hilda Gadea, Che's first wife; Ernesto "Che" Guevara's own recollections in Volume I of his Escritos y Discursos, published in Havana in 1977; Mencía's Bohemia articles; the "Tuxpán" book; and the author's interviews with Pedro Miret, Melba Hernández, and Universo Sánchez.
340–343 Castro's tour in the United States is described in Mencía's
342–343 Bohemia articles in 1985, and in Havana newspapers in 1955. The question of Fidelito was discussed with the author by Fidel Castro's friends in Havana in 1985.
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347–371 Material on the preparations for the invasion appears in Mencía's articles; the Tuxpán book; General Bayo's memoirs; Teresa Casuso's Cuba and Castro (including Fidel's romantic interests); and the author's interviews with Pedro Miret, Melba Hernández, Universo Sánchez, Faustino Pérez, and Ben S. Stephansky.
369–370 Castro's dealings in Mexico with Communist emissaries from Cuba are reported by Lionel Martín in connection with the Osvaldo Sánchez Cabrera visit; the visit by Flavio Bravo, much more important, is contained in an unpublished interview by Mario Mencía.
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372–376 The voyage of the Granma is described in the Tuxpán book and in Volume I of Che Guevara's Escritos y Discursos. New details came in the author's interviews with Universo Sánchez and Ramiro Valdés. To gain a visual impression of the landing area, I visited the "shipwreck" spot and crossed the mangrove (now a narrow causeway makes crossing it infinitely easier) to the shore during a tour of Oriente with my wife in May 1985. Pedro Álvarez Tábio, the historian of the Sierra war at the Council of State, who accompanied us, described the landing and the mangrove in a taped interview there.
377–395 The section on the Rebel Army's first six weeks in Cuba is based largely on the author's interviews with Faustino Pérez and Universo Sánchez, who were with Fidel after the Alegría de Pío debacle, and on interviews with Pedro Álvarez Tábio, the historian. Invaluable material came in an interview in Havana with Guillermo García. In the Sierra Maestra, I interviewed Ángel Pérez Rosabal, Mario Sariol, Argelio Rosabal, and Argeo González who were among the first peasants to meet and help Fidel's band. My wife and I toured the Alegría de Pío battlefield, and followed part of Fidel's route into the Sierra Maestra by car and jeep and on foot; it is impossible to understand the Castro war in the mountains without becoming acquainted with the terrain, even slightly. The battle of Alegría de Pío is described in some detail in Che Guevara's and Raúl Castro's war diaries.
CHAPTER 10
396–426 The military history of the first full year of the Sierra war is fairly well documented; the political and ideological history less well. Probably the most complete and objective chronological account of the crucial period between Granma's landing on December 2, 1956, and February 20, 1957, when Castro's guerrilla army became consolidated, was published in four consecutive special issues of the newspaper Granma: January 3, January 17, February 23, and February 27, 1979. The accou
nts were written by Pedro Álvarez Tábio and Otto Hernández, incorporating material from Raúl Castro's and Che Guevara's war diaries, and other sources. Additional material on this period appeared in a special anniversary issue of Bohemia on December 3, 1976. Álvarez Tábio and Hernández described the battle of Uvero in El Combate de Uvero, published in Havana in 1980. Much important material came from the author's interviews with Faustino Pérez, Universo Sánchez, Guillermo García, José R. Machado Ventura, and Ramiro Valdés. Carlos Franqui's Diary of the Cuban Revolution contains significant Sierra correspondence (including operational orders and reports) of Fidel and Raúl Castro, Che Guevara, Celia Sánchez, Frank País, and others. The full body of this correspondence is in the archives of the Council of State.