Published Friday, January 18, 2002 . By Anita Snow.
Associated Press, in The Miami Herald
HAVANA -- When 40 influential women from Washington state met with Fidel
Castro this week, the 75-year-old president spent several minutes chatting with
each one, asking their names, their interests, their thoughts on Cuba.
"He obviously had read the biographies and knew who each person was,''
said Susan Jeffords, dean of Social Sciences at the University of Washington.
Castro met with the group for three hours, and spent another two hours
talking with Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. When she told Castro she feared she
would miss her flight, he escorted her to the airport in his Mercedes Benz.
The personal attention that Cuba's leader gave each woman demonstrated his
great interest in Americans whose opinions could count in efforts to change U.S.
policy toward the communist country. It also underscored what Castro has said
all along: his beef is with the U.S. government, not with the American people.
"It was certainly exciting to meet with him. He is a very charming and
eloquent man,'' said Jeffords, who accompanied a group from the university's
Center for Women and Democracy. Their visit ends today.
SEEKING INFLUENCE
Castro learned the importance of courting average Americans during the fight
for shipwreck survivor Elián González, who returned to the island
in the summer of 2000.
While Cuban exiles battled to keep the child with his Miami relatives, many
other Americans supported returning him to his father on the island.
The seven-month battle over the boy, who was rescued at sea off Florida's
coast, showed that even if Americans don't agree with Cuba's form of government,
they no longer view Cuba through a purely ideological prism.
While the Bush administration and powerful Cuban exiles support the
40-year-old embargo against the island as a way to pressure Castro, both
Democratic and Republican lawmakers have fought to ease or even eliminate the
sanctions, saying Cuba could become a new market for U.S. products.
Lawmakers across the political spectrum also have worked to erase U.S.
restrictions against travel by most Americans to the Caribbean island.
The Washington women -- bankers, business owners, government officials and
others -- said they support freer travel to Cuba and hope to return next year.
For this visit, they traveled under a Treasury Department license granted to the
University of Washington.
The trip was aimed at promoting understanding between U.S. and Cuban women
leaders, said Laurie McDonald Jonsson, board chairman of the center that
organized the trip and president of Stellar International, a Seattle investment
firm.
"I first came here a little over a year ago with a vision that American
women should have the chance to share with the women of Cuba,'' said Jonsson.
OBSERVED GAINS
The Americans said they were impressed by the gains women had made in Cuba,
and particularly with individual women they met here.
"I've had the chance to meet some amazing women here. Some I will
remember for the rest of my life,'' Jeffords said.
Connie Niva, head of the Washington State Transportation Commission, said
she will also remember meeting Castro, who chuckled when she shared a local joke
about Cuba's huge buses, known as "camels'' for their unusual shape.
The common form of public transport is formed by two connecting trailers and
drawn by a tractor.
They are typically overcrowded, resulting in frequent disputes among
passengers and complaints by women about groping men.
"How are camels like American movies?'' goes the joke. "Sex,
violence and bad language.''
Copyright 2002 Miami Herald | 
