Rush: Castro like "an old friend"

Posted By Joshua Keating Wednesday, April 8, 2009 - 4:09 PM Share

Opening up diplomatic dialogue with Cuba is one thing, this is another:

“It was almost like listening to an old friend,” said Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Il.) [after meeting with Fidel Castro], adding that he found Castro’s home to be modest and Castro’s wife to be particularly hospitable.

“In my household I told Castro he is known as the ultimate survivor,” Rush said.

For the most part, the Congressional Black Caucus's meeting with Castro seems to have been quite a lovefest. Fidel seems to have gotten a bit creative in his recollection of it, though:

In a statement following the meeting today, Castro said that the delegation had expressed to him that a segment of American society “continues to be racist,” and is at least partly to blame for the travel restrictions.

But the delegation this evening said those remarks were not expressed in the meeting.

“That did not happen,” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), told reporters.

Without in any way condoning the embargo or the diplomatic isolation of Cuba, the CBC's visit seems to have been about the worst way to engage the regime -- almost a parody of the way Barack Obama's campaign pledges of reaching out to hostile regimes was characterized as appeasement by his opponents.

ADALBERTO ROQUE/AFP/Getty Images

EXPLORE:LATIN AMERICA, U.S. CONGRESS

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11:58 PM ET

April 8, 2009

The Defense Minister. I

The Defense Minister. I wonder if he still has some coloring books from back in the day.

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