Castro had warm ties with Indian leaders
New Delhi, Nov. 26: Fidel Castro’s bear hug to Indira Gandhi in the spring of 1983 at the Non-Aligned Movement summit here best symbolises his warm ties with India which always looked to the legendary leader as a “great friend”.
Under Jawaharlal Nehru, India was amongst the first countries to extend recognition to Cuba after the 1959 revolution led by Castro, who overthrew the Fulgencio Batista regime.
Unmindful of US sanctions on Communist Cuba starting from the Cold War era, India has always maintained political,
Under Nehru, India was amongst the first countries to extend recognition to Cuba after the 1959 revolution led by Castro
trade, cultural and people-to-people relations for about six decades when even Washington has revised its stand.
It was Nehru who had reached out to the Cuban icon and told him that the non-aligned nations saw his leadership with immense hope.
Castro, who died on Saturday at the age of 90, had been denied the accomodation in fivestar hotels in New York when he attended the UN General Assembly in 1960, and the owner of Theresa Hotel came and invited him to stay there. Then, important dignitaries paid him courtesy calls there. Years later, Castro told former external affairs minister K. Natwar Singh that, “The first person who came to see me was Prime Minister Nehru. I can never forget his magnificent gesture. I was 34 years old, not widely known. I was tense. Nehru boosted my morale. My tension disappeared.”