By Shannon Henry. Washington Post Staff Writer.
The Washington Post.
Thursday, December 21, 2000; Page E01
Washington's self-styled missionaries of capitalism, America Online
co-founder Jim Kimsey and real estate investor Joe Robert, are becoming quite
adept at the diplomatic game. The high-tech, high-net worth men flew into the
time-forgotten city of Havana last month, visiting Fidel Castro to explain their
world to him and pitch some pet projects.
This early-November trip was only the latest of Kimsey's and Robert's
freelance tours. In March the duo journeyed into the Colombian jungles, where
they met with Manuel Marulanda, leader of the largest rebel group in the region,
and advised him to stop trafficking in drugs and killing people if he wanted to
enjoy economic prosperity.
Kimsey and Robert also spent a week in Jakarta in August, where they paid a
visit to Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid. And Kimsey, who served two
tours in Vietnam as an Army Ranger, accompanied President Clinton on his recent
trip to Vietnam, the first by a sitting U.S. president since the war.
Kimsey and Robert are friends who at different times went to St. Johns
College High School, an all-boys Catholic academy in Washington. Both are
self-made multimillionaires who figure if they have succeeded in business, they
can help change the world in other ways. Kimsey was at the helm during the early
days of AOL, a once-struggling Internet services firm that is now poised to to
do the unthinkable -- take over the venerable old media empire of Time Warner.
Robert, a former Golden Gloves boxer, amassed his fortune by buying failed and
troubled banks and savings & loans in the 1980s. He is founder and owner of
J.E. Robert Cos., an international real estate company in McLean.
Some would say these men do things without thinking. Others would say that's
the only way they get things done. Choose your word: self-confident, naive,
idealistic, crazy. They all apply to some extent.
"We thought maybe it was an opportunity to enlighten Castro," says
Kimsey of the seven-hour discussion the men had over dinner at the communist
leader's palace. They traveled to Cuba at Castro's request, they say.
Their dinner began with mojitos -- a Cuban cocktail -- for Robert and Kimsey
and a martini for Castro, and was followed by many bottles of fine wine. Robert
called the discussion "friendly but tense." They talked about Cuba's
trade embargo, AIDS in Africa, taxation, socialism and even a pill Castro is
taking for high cholesterol. It seems the medicine has a Viagra-like side
effect.
"One of us is Forrest Gump and the other is Mr. Magoo," Kimsey
says, describing how he and Robert keep meeting world leaders in an almost
serendipitous way. "We don't wake up planning this."
Still, when an opportunity presents itself, Robert and Kimsey take their
unofficial roles seriously. "It provided us an opportunity to explain the
virtues of capitalism and democracy and the spread of globalization," says
Robert.
And although curiosity and a taste for adventure fueled this trip, the men
also hoped to enlist Castro in a particular project. "We thought we might
explore getting Castro's support with the Colombian jungle," says Robert.
It sounds as implausible as the trips themselves, but Kimsey and Robert say
Castro agreed to financially support a charity they've created called "Project
Smile" that gives medical care to disfigured children in Colombia. During a
one-week period in April, about 100 children are scheduled to receive surgery to
correct their deformities, Robert says. Kimsey and Robert expect to spend about
$250,000 on the effort. It would be an unusual alliance between two countries,
and exactly the kind of impact the two tycoons hope to have.
Kimsey says Castro poked fun at the pair's philanthropic journeys around the
world. He says Castro asked him, "Are you Christ, are you the Messiah?"
Of course, the Internet was a prime topic. Kimsey asked Castro what his
government would look like if companies came in and wired the country so
everyone could communicate with everyone else. He says Castro first said it was
an "abusive" question but then said he had no idea what it would look
like.
Kimsey believes that cheap handheld wireless devices will bring the Internet
to the masses in Cuba, as well as Colombia and Vietnam.
For now, Kimsey says, Castro blames his country's shortage of computers on
the embargo, although he didn't seem particularly concerned that information is
not flowing freely. "I suspect he'll continue to keep it controlled in that
way," adds Robert.
The dinner ended with Kimsey and Robert smoking cigars. Castro, who has
given up smoking, didn't join them. But he did send a box of cigars to the
visitors as a parting gift, along with his business card, which reads simply "Republica
de Cuba/Fidel CastroRuz/Presidente del Consejo de Estado Y del Gobierno,"
without any phone numbers or addresses.
After they returned home, the American men sent two books to their new
acquaintance. Kimsey sent Thomas Friedman's discourse on post-Cold War
globalization, "Lexus and the Olive Tree" and Robert sent "The
Road to Serfdom" by Friedrich Hayek, which discusses socioeconomics.
So what's next in this new semi-friendship?
"You never know what's going to happen," Kimsey says. "We can
do things government officials can't do. We don't report to anybody."
Send tips and tales of the digital capital's local people, deals and events
to Shannon Henry at henrys@washpost.com.
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