In his most memorable trip to New York, a young, macho Fidel Castro cut a boisterous, chicken-plucking swath through the city.
By Owen Moritz. Daily News Staff Writer. Daily News Online. Saturday, September 02, 2000
It was September 1960, and the Cuban strongman was here for another historic gathering of leaders at the United Nations.
Historians say no one, not even Castro in later years, ever topped his 11-day performance.
The New York trip had come two years after Castro's guerrillas had taken control of the island nation and the 34-year-old leader's revolutionary rhetoric was unwelcome to American leaders.
Since he was addressing the UN, there was little the outgoing Eisenhower administration could do — other than restrict his travel to Manhattan.
First Castro had to find a hotel. The government prevailed on the sedate Shelburne Hotel at Lexington Ave. and E. 37th St. to accommodate Fidel and his 90-member entourage.
"Yankee-hating Cuban Premier Fidel Castro was bedded down last night snug as a bug in a beard in the Hotel Shelburne," the Daily News wrote.
But after 24 hours, the enraged Castro stalked out, complaining about surveillance and management demands he post a $10,000 bond.
Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev with Fidel Castro surrounded by police and crowds outside the Hotel Theresa in Harlem during their 1960 visit to New York.
Castro threatened to pitch tents in Central Park.
Instead, the Cuban delegation repacked 500 bags of clothing, beans and peanuts and headed up to 125th St. in Harlem and the now-closed Theresa Hotel.
Back at the Shelburne, hotel officials complained of trashed rooms. Chambermaids gave accounts of the Cuban delegation cooking steaks and chickens in their suites, leaving behind moldy meat, chicken bones and feathers.
But Castro was now in Harlem and basking in the world's attention. He held court, welcoming everyone from Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev to Nation of Islam leader Malcolm X.
Despite the hotel's denials, stories circulated that prostitutes roamed the corridors.
When Castro got to address the General Assembly, the invective-filled speech lasted 4 hours, 26 minutes, still a UN record.
The visit ended as it began. On Sept. 29, Castro's Cubana Airlines plane was impounded because of nonpayment of debts to American creditors. Khrushchev supplied a Soviet plane to fly the Cubans home.
"I'm coming back soon," Castro yelled before his plane took off. He returned 1979, 19 years later, and will again this week. | 