Cuban President Fidel Castro was insistent on a photograph with Manmohan Singh when the Indian prime minister visited him in Havana.
On Board Air India One
Cuban President Fidel Castro was insistent on a photograph with Manmohan Singh when the Indian prime minister visited him in Havana, saying "I want photo with you so that a billion people can see us together."
Manmohan Singh was one of the few world leaders who got to meet the ailing 80-year-old leftist icon who is recuperating from an intestinal surgery two months ago.
Moving from his wheel chair in his room at the Communist Party of Cuba party headquarters where he is now staying, Castro stood up to pose for the photograph with the Indian prime minister whom he met for about 40 minutes.
Manmohan Singh later told Indian journalists who had accompanied him to Havana that he had a memorable meeting with Castro and discussed a whole range of issues, including the future of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), India's development prospects, how it deals with its food and energy problems and Cuba's human development progress and energy conservation efforts.
"I felt I was in the presence of one of the greatest men of our times," Manmohan Singh said of the meeting. "I had gone there to greet him but he engaged me in intense discussions, asking searching questions..", he said.
He said Castro - who had to undergo emergency surgery following intestinal bleeding, leading to intense speculation in the Western media about his and his country's future - was weak but remained sitting throughout the 40 minutes of their meeting and he fondly recalled his ties with former prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.
He said if the NAM summit were held two days later, he would have been able to preside over it.
The Sep 15-16 summit, held in Cuba after 27 years, was presided over in his absence by his younger brother Raul Castro, who is acting president in Fidel's absence from duty.
Castro met, besides Manmohan Singh, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Bolivian President Hugo Chavez, Algerian President Abdel Aziz Bouteflika and leaders from Argentina.
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