As you may well have heard already, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro died.
Empathy and apathy: a clear divide. Some care, many don’t.
More on Castro’s regime and rise to politics
Despite our current president Obama mending fences with the country recently-just before Castro’s death-it’s no secret that Castro/Cuba’s relationship with the U.S was always strained.
In addition to that feat, another American icon should be notated and written in as the only American journalist to land not one, but two interviews with the Cuban dictator who at the time, seldom, if ever interviewed.
Although currently retired from in front of the camera, journalism genie Barbara Walters took some time out to reflect on her meetings with the dictator that then, and especially now, are etched into American history.
And so it is written:
“I first interviewed Fidel Castro 39 years ago. He was charming and fiercely guarded about his private life. He called our interviews ‘fiery debates.’ During our times together, he made clear to me that he was an absolute dictator and that he was a staunch opponent of democracy. I told him that what we most profoundly disagreed on was the meaning of freedom.”