Yahoo! April 11, 2001
Castro Shows at Missile Crisis Film
By Anita Snow, Associated Press Writer
HAVANA, 10 (AP) - President Fidel Castro (news - web sites) sat next to
actor-producer Kevin Costner as Cuban officials joined Hollywood heavyweights at
a private screening of "Thirteen Days,'' Costner's movie about the Cuban
Missile Crisis.
"It was fantastic. I enjoyed it very much,'' Costner told reporters
Tuesday as he left the Hotel Nacional for an afternoon showing of the film. He
saw it with Castro the night before.
"The president was quite animated throughout,'' Costner press agent
Stephen Rivers said of the screening. "He kept identifying scenes and
people, especially the American officials, during the entire film.''
Castro and Costner met again Tuesday afternoon along with others for a
three-hour discussion of the film, which is told from the vantage point of
President Kennedy and his staff. It focuses on the decision-making process that
led to the removal of the Soviet missiles from Cuba in October 1962.
Castro, who was in power at the time of the crisis, and other Cuban
officials were not portrayed in the film.
Costner and Castro were joined in the screening at the Palace of the
Revolution, where Castro keeps his offices, by Foreign Minister Felipe Perez
Roque, Vice President Carlos Lage and members of Castro's personal staff. They
later held a dinner that went into the wee hours of Tuesday, said Rivers.
"Everywhere we have taken this film it has had a positive response,''
Rivers said. "Kevin was very appreciative of the time the president gave us
and of the opportunity to show him the film.
Costner arrived here Monday afternoon, accompanied by fellow producers Aryan
Bernstein, Beacon Pictures chairman, and Peter Almond, along with several
others. Also in the group were Costner's companion, Christine Baumgartner, and
Chris Lawford, a member of the Kennedy family who also appeared in the movie.
On Tuesday morning, the group was screening the film to Cuban audiences and
the New Latin Cinema Film Institute. Group members were hopeful that Castro
would show up again at a Tuesday afternoon screening at the Palace of
Conventions.
''(Castro) was quite engaged and seemed interested in continuing the
conversation'' at a subsequent screening, Rivers said.
"Thirteen Days'' opened in the United States in January and got its
first high-profile screening the following month at the White House, where it
was viewed by President Bush (news - web sites) and members of the Kennedy
family.
New Line Cinema then had the movie about the U.S.-Soviet nuclear showdown
sent to the international space station for the enjoyment of its crew - two
Russians and an American.
In the movie, Costner stars as Kenny O'Donnell, a White House aide to
President Kennedy and his brother Robert.
The film is based on the book "The Kennedy Tapes - Inside the White
House During the Cuban Missile Crisis.''
Venezuela Trades Oil for Athletics
By Jorge Rueda, Associated Press Writer.
CARACAS, Venezuela 10 (AP) - President Hugo Chavez gave a hearty welcome to
hundreds of Cuban sports trainers who plan to whip Venezuelan athletes into
shape in exchange for cheap Venezuelan oil.
The training regimen is part of a pact in which Venezuela sells Cuba oil at
preferential rates in exchange for Cuban expertise in tourism, sugar, medicines
and other areas.
"We are happy to receive this extraordinary reinforcement of 300 men
and women from Cuba ... to add muscle to the effort we are making to lift
Venezuela, little by little, after years in oblivion,'' Chavez said at a
welcoming ceremony at a Caracas stadium late Monday.
Chavez signed the oil-for-expertise pact with Cuban President Fidel Castro
(news - web sites) in October. Venezuela provides Cuba 53,000 barrels of oil a
day - by some estimates worth $500 million a year. Cuba pays for the oil in
barter and in cash.
Cuba has 15 years to pay with a 2 percent interest rate. Venezuela has
signed similar pacts with Central American and Caribbean nations.
Cuba owes Venezuela's Central Bank an estimated $69 million, and its
communist government has agreed to begin paying down that debt.
Critics said Venezuela could ill afford the deal. Chavez responded that Cuba
was among the first nations to help when flooding in 1999 killed at least 15,000
people. Cuban doctors still tend to victims in the Caribbean state of Vargas.
Venezuela can use the sports training. While its strong suit is baseball,
with plenty of Venezuelans in the Major Leagues, it didn't win a medal at the
Sydney Olympics (news - web sites).
Cuba, a perennial sports powerhouse, won 29 medals at Sydney, including 11
gold. Its trainers are sought by many states, including Puerto Rico, a U.S.
commonwealth that has its own Olympic team.
Alberto Juantorena, Cuban gold medalist in the 400 and 800 meters at the
1976 Olympic Games (news - web sites) in Montreal, assured Venezuelans that
there is no plan to '"Cubanize' sports or any other Venezuelan sector.''
"Our only mission here is to cooperate, share our experience in high
competition and contribute so that soon, Venezuelans will rise frequently to the
podiums of the largest sports championships in the world,'' said Juantorena,
vice president of Cuba's Sports, Physical Education and Recreation Institute.
Cuban trainers will spend 18 months in Venezuela focusing on baseball,
boxing, wrestling, karate, weightlifting, volleyball and track and field.
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