MSNBC. September 9, 2000
New York, NY, –Sept. 9– Cuban Dictator Fidel Castro headed back to Cuba early Saturday morning. No one knew the dictator was leaving New York. In fact, a number of people sympathetic to Castro were gathered outside the Cuban Mission in New York, expecting to meet with him.
Castro left the U.S. after a five hour speech at the historic Riverside Church in Harlem in front of two thousand supporters.
The crowd broke out in cheers when he told them about his brush with President Clinton earlier this week. In a much-discussed encounter, the two leaders shook hands Wednesday at a luncheon.
Castro told the crowd "I came to Harlem because I knew it was here that I would find my best friends". The audience included U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters of California and U.S. Rep. Jose Serrano of New York, who both oppose the U.S. embargo against Cuba.
Other guests included the Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, the former head of the National Council of Churches, who lobbied for Elian Gonzalez to be sent back to Cuba.
The New York visit is Castro’s first in five years. For more on this trip, click on to Ike Seamans’ Friday report.
MSNBC © 2000 | 