Jeffrey Goldberg, a writer for The Atlantic Magazine, has been busy this week dominating the the Miami Herald's front page with strategically released scoops from his extraordinary interview with Fidel Castro -- the first given to an American since el commandante's grave illness four years ago. So far he's dropped two bombshells: Fidel slamming Iran for anti-Semitism and trash-talking his own system of communism for not working.
Goldberg has promised another story later today. But in the meantime, this quick update: Che Guevera's daughter is a vet working in Havana's Aquarium! And Fidel really, really -- really! -- likes dolphin shows.
If you read Goldberg's last post, you'll recall that soon after stunning everyone with his frank admission that Cuban socialism "doesn't even work for us any more," Fidel casually demanded that the journalist accompany him to a dolphin show.
Before the show starts, Fidel tells Goldberg to quiz the aquarium chief, a kind man named Guillermo Garcia who also happens to be a nuclear physicist -- "We put him here to keep him from building nuclear bombs!" Castro jokes. Ha ha!
Garcia soon calls over a vet named Celia, who offers Goldberg some insights on how the dolphins are trained. Midway through the interview, Golberg writes, Antonio Castro -- Fidel's son -- leans over and tells him Celia's last name: Guevara.
The next exchange is priceless:
"You're Che's daughter?" (Goldberg) asked.
"Yes," she said.
"And you're a dolphin veterinarian?"
"I take care of all the inhabitants of the aquarium," she said.
"Che liked animals very much," Antonio Castro said.
Well, there you have it. After that, the show started -- a display Goldberg calls "the best I've ever seen" -- and Fidel apparently gets into it rather like a tween ogling Justin Beiber.
"I will also say this: I've never seen someone enjoy a dolphin show as much as Fidel Castro enjoyed the dolphin show," Goldberg writes.
