Two Days with President Fidel Castro

Dr. Chandana (Chandi) Jayawardena DPhil

President – Chandi J. Associates Inc. Consulting, Canada

Another State Visit

In May of 1998, I received a call from the Chief of Protocol in the office of the Prime Minister of Jamaica. She was a friend of mine and, as usual, she wanted to give me a heads up regarding another important state visit. I was the General Manager of the largest hotel in the capital city of Jamaica – Kingston. As the Government of Jamaica owned 60% of Le Meridien Jamaica Pegasus

Hotel (Pegasus), my sales team and I did not have to work too hard to get bookings for visiting Heads of State and Government. The team of 400 full-time employees who worked at this 360-room hotel were well-experienced in handling the VIP visitors who frequently patronized the Pegasus. When I heard that this visit had to be kept a top-secret, I was curious to know the name of the VIP. After I promised the Chief of Protocol that I would keep it to myself, I was informed that the President of Cuba, Fidel Castro, would be staying at the Pegasus for two days.

More than half of our hotel guests were usually from the USA, and that itself was a good reason to keep this state visit a secret. Leading up to the day of his visit in July 1998, only two people at the Pegasus – my Director of Marketing and I, knew that President Castro would be staying with us. During my career as a hotelier, I had the fortune of hosting 34 heads of State and Government. Therefore, I was very used to doing VIP meet and greets and ensuring that all five-star services were provided to the complete satisfaction of the VIPs.

However, this visit was very interesting to me. This interest stemmed from listening to the fascinating story my father told me when I was a kid, about a lunch meeting he had with President Castro’s good friend, Dr. Che Guevara, in 1959 in the parliament of Ceylon. The other reasons for my interest were the mystique and charisma of President Castro, and my observations (good and bad) made during a visit to Cuba as a tourist in 1997.

Lost in Translation

In early June of 1998, the Cuban Ambassador in Jamaica commenced weekly meetings in my office to discuss the logistics of the state visit. The Ambassador did not speak English and I did not speak Spanish. As a result, these weekly meetings became very long and we depended on the translation skills of the Deputy Ambassador and the hotel’s Director of Marketing. Initially, I did not understand the rationale for some of the requests from the Ambassador, such as:

booking all 72 rooms on the top three (14, 15, and 16) floors for a period of seven days (the visit was only for two days),

prohibiting any hotel employee from entering these 72 rooms during the VIP stay, and

keeping the room number of the suite to be used by President Castro a secret from anyone from Pegasus.

When I offered to personally register President Castro in his suite, the Ambassador informed me that: “you are not allowed to do so. Please do the welcome at the entrance, usher His Excellency to the elevator, and the Cuban Secret Police will take it from there”. Everything was secretive, so in an annoyed voice I said that: “these are my duties as the General Manager!”, explaining how I had handled the arrival of Prince Phillip only the previouslast week. At that point, the Ambassador declared: “not for President Castro!”.

The tension was building up, and although I was getting a bit nervous, I insisted that the Cuban embassy makes the full payment to the hotel, for the 72 rooms for all seven nights, upfront and in US dollars. The very next day, they came to my office with a large bag of US cash and settled everything. During my last pre-visit meeting with the Cuban diplomats, I finally understood that their unusual secrecy and precautions were justifiable, given the large number of failed attempts on President Castro’s life, choreographed by the CIA! Then on we worked together to ensure a successful state visit and stay for President Castro.

The Arrival of a Dictator

On the day of the visit, July 30th, 1998, during my morning briefing with the hotel’s management team (who were anxious), I finally announced the name of the VIP guest and details of the state visit. Our Resident Manager was Welsh, Director of Marketing was Chilean, Director of Finance was Guyanese, Training Manager was English and the rest were Jamaican. None of them liked dictators, but as professionals, I knew that my team will do their best during this two-day state visit.

An hour later, the Prime Minister of Jamaica accompanied President Castro to the Pegasus. The motorcade included many senior politicians, military, and police officers from both Cuba and Jamaica. Over 50 journalists awaited his arrival at the hotel lobby. Fidel Castro is one of the most handsome men I have ever met. I shook his hand and welcomed him to the Pegasus. He had a strong grip and looked me directly in the eyes while shaking my hand. As rehearsed, I took him near the elevator, and the Cuban secret police took over from there. To this date, I am unaware of the suite that President Castro used at the hotel I managed!

The rest of the day went as planned – smooth and uneventful, except that an anti-Cuban journalist provoked President Castro during a media briefing. I met him three more times that day. He left the hotel for a public lecture about the ‘History of the Caribbean’. He spoke without any notes, off-the-cuff for three straight hours! That evening, our hotel catered for a cocktail reception for over 1,000 invitees hosted by the Governor General of Jamaica at the King’s House, in honour of President Castro.

The Departure of a Hero

The next morning, I was standing at attention in the hotel lobby by the elevator reserved for the Cuban VIPs. When President Castro came down, I noticed that he was in a good mood. He was very friendly, and he surprised me by placing his arm around my shoulders while walking towards the entrance of the hotel. He told me: “Thank you for excellent service and hospitality”. He then wrote a quick comment on the hotel’s Golden Book and left for the airport with the Prime Minister of Jamaica in a large motorcade. I was happy, but surprised, by President Castro’s friendliness.

At that point, the Deputy Ambassador for Cuba spoke with me at the hotel entrance, and asked me: “Mr. Chandi, can I meet you at your office?”. I was worried, and asked him: “Why? Did anything go wrong?”. He said: “No. President Castro was very impressed with the hotel and you, and he asked me to hand over a personal gift to you”. I was shocked, as no other Head of State or Government that I had served has ever made such a gesture of goodwill. He came to my office with a large bag which contained two bottles of Grand Reserve Havana Club Rum, two boxes of Habanos Cigars, and a card. From that day onward, I became a Castro fan for life!