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As Cuban exiles cheer in the streets of Miami, newspapers and magazines are scrambling to write advance obits for Fidel Castro (that is, if they haven’t already — rumors about the old boy’s death have been swirling for a few weeks). We’re lobbying to have the following tidbits included in the official records:
* Castro was one of seven kids, and his parents weren’t sure they were going to send all of them to school. In perhaps his first display of power through violence, young Castro threatened to burn the house done if he didn’t get to enroll. Unlike, say, Milton, he found the threat worked, and ended up in a Jesuit school in Havana.
* There’s a long-standing rumor that a college-aged Castro tried out for the Washington Senators — and was reee-jected. Alas, the rumor is probably false, although Castro was apparently named the best all-around athlete in Cuba at age 18. (We hear he’s won the same title for the last several decades.)
* The ship that brought Castro back to Cuba after he snuck across the Rio Grande from Mexico to the States to start his revolution was called Granma. Today, Castro’s official newspaper is named after it. Put on your propaganda filter and read it en ingles here.
If you know any other bizarre Castro facts, tell us in the comments, and maybe we’ll write our own unofficial obit when he finally kicks the bucket.
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I thought folks might enjoy this nugget that we wrote for the mental_floss Fact-of-the-Day a few years back:
Fidel Castro appeared as an uncredited extra in the 1946 film Holiday in Mexico.
At the time, Castro was attending the University of Havana (the real college also attended by I Love Lucy’s fictitious Ricky Ricardo). The future El Commandante graduated four years later with a law degree. After forming a strong bond with the USSR, he became one of the most feared men in America during the time of the Cuban missile crisis.
Despite his 40+ years in power, the end of the Cold War caused a radical change in the scope of his power. Fidel Castro is no longer the imposing international figure that he was in his heyday.
posted by Sandy on 8-1-2006 at 6:20 pm
Our lovely VP of business development Toby sent in this one from Forbidden Knowledge, under the heading “Near-Death by Chocolate:”
In a country known for its sugar production, the Cuban strongman’s well-known fondness for a particular type of chocolate milkshake might very well have led to his demise had the CIA been a little more on top of its game. Among the approximately 600 assassination attempts the CIA is believed to have set in motion against Castro, one infamous failure called for covert agents to sneak poisoned aspirin into El Presidente’s daily chocolate shake. And while they succeeded in getting the poison into the beverage, an overeager servant inadvertently foiled the plan by putting the shake in a freezer to keep it cold. Unfortunately, it froze and Cuba’s temperamental dictator dictated a new one.
posted by Mary on 8-3-2006 at 12:17 pm