Cigar lovers from around the world were going to have their day. It was at this moment that I finally realized it was really happening. Off we drove into the narrow streets of the city. Waiting by the curb was a chauffeur-driven, older, dark-blue Mercedes. We walked down the front steps of the hotel into the silent night air. I was asked to meet a Foreign Affairs official in the lobby, a woman I had met with several hours earlier. A nerve-racking hour-and-fifteen-minutes later than promised it came. I had been told to stay in the Hotel Nacional that evening and be in my room at l0:30 p.m. And with all my persistence, they, my Cuban connections, were rooting for me. At each point along the way the response: "Maybe tonight," "we can't promise," "it looks like it may happen," or "it's looking good." No one would say, "yes, tonight you will meet el presidente," but I saw in their eyes that my time was near. and continuing throughout the day preceded a night I will long remember. A number of meetings and telephone conversations beginning at 8:00 a.m. Rain and stillness filled the air.Īfter nearly two years of unrelenting letters and phone calls with Cuban diplomats in the United States, Europe and Cuba, I was about to get my wish: a private audience with President Fidel Castro.
Today, we bring back that conversation, and the editor’s note that described the details leading up to their meeting. The conversation between the two men became the cover story for the Summer 1994 issue. The interview focused on cigars, but touched on the United States trade embargo and President Castro's future. Shanken, editor and publisher of Cigar Aficionado, interviewed Cuban President Fidel Castro in Havana on February 3, 1994.
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