A Second Call from Fidel

By MIGUEL BONASSO, from Havana

There was a phone call at six in the morning that I only found out about three hours later.
And then came a second call.
-Hey, tell me about that article. It received tremendous coverage! ­­­—a hoarse voice says on the other end of the line and then adds ironically— they’ve told me you have become the star of the summit that everyone wants to talk to you.
After a few seconds, he adds with his proverbial gentleness:
-What are you doing today? Would you like to get together for a while? I’d like to personally congratulate you for the article and for your words at the Group of 15 Summit.
He was referring to the exclusive article that this newspaper [Pagina 12] published last Thursday and the speech I made that same day in representation of President Nestor Kirchner. Although I know him well, it’s hard to believe what the Commander is telling me. See him twice in two days; hearing him happy as if he wasn’t Fidel Castro but instead a beginner being interviewed for the first time.
Besides, he was right about the coverage. I’ve spent the last two days giving interviews about the interview and receiving greetings and inquiries from hundreds of delegates at the summit of the Non Aligned Movement. Princes with turbans, presidents from three continents, ministers, ambassadors of the Third and First World have all asked me about Fidel’s health.
Also many humble and anonymous Cubans —like those who open a door or bring you a mojito— have asked me with watery eyes and emotion: “Did the commander really look well? Does he stand up without help? Does he walk? Has he regained some weight?
At the opening session of the 14th Summit of the Non Aligned Movement they have named him president even though he wasn’t present at the modern and functional main hall of the Convention Center. Maybe he’s in the back, overwhelming the summit with his absence-presence; receiving Kofi Annan, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Evo Morales, Hugo Chavez or this author, in his convalescent room.
Everybody remembers the exclusive photos and article published last Thursday by Pagina 12 that was picked up by hundreds of media outlets around the world.
But the world can also see that things continue to function here like clockwork. The summit is very well organized (it’s not easy to lodge dozens of heads-of-state with their entourages and guards) and the opening ceremony has been moderate and eloquent. Raul Castro, the acting president of both Cuba and the summit, has delivered a speech that effectively combined the current situation with history. Hours later, his older brother told me: “Raul’s speech was very good. It was very precise.”
The second visit occurs: the hallway, the camera, the men in white, the kind woman that leads me to the sancta santorum where the Cuban leader is recovering.
“Today we are going to walk,” says Fidel Castro by way of a greeting.
And we walked around the room under the camera of Richard, one of his young assistants. The commander explains: “It is important to stretch.”
We then sit down and he tells me with his bright eyes full of joy: “These days I have a tremendous appetite. I am eating everything.”
I realize that, unconsciously, I have become a sort of spokesperson on the progress of his recovery. As always, we talk about everything divine and human and he asks me to deliver a special greeting to the readers of Pagina 12.
I tell him that Chapter 24 of the book 100 Hours with Fidel appears today as a supplement of the newspaper and he is very pleased with the news. Two days before, as the readers will remember, he had told me that the revision and enhancement of the memoir, compiled in 100 hours of interviews with journalist Ignacio Ramonet, had been his main concern during the difficult and dangerous hours that followed his operation.
Now that those dark hours are left behind, 100 Hours with Fidel remains an impressive book that the heads of state of the Non-Aligned Movement received yesterday as a gift in a special hardcover edition.
Over the last few days, many people have asked me if the commander, after recovering completely, will return to be the same as before (the tireless) or if he will concentrate exclusively on strategic matters, so as to conserve his health which millions of people treat as their own. It’s a difficult question to answer. And for that reason I didn’t even try.
I can only tell what I saw during that second call. He is interested in what is going on in Venezuela, in Bolivia, in Mexico, in Argentina, at the summit and its hallways. He attentively listens to the news articles read to him by his secretary Carlitos Valenciaga and asks to be put in touch with this or that person.
And he says goodbye, standing, with a hug, because Evo is about to arrive.
To tell you the truth, it’s hard for me to imagine him resting.