THE BRONX — The Bronx activist who convinced Fidel Castro to visit the borough during his trip to the city 21 years ago feared for the Cuban leader's life at the time.
Castro, who passed away on Friday night aged 90, came to The Bronx in 1995 for a dinner at Jimmy's Bronx Cafe in University Heights. Julio Pabón, who helped organize the event, finished writing a book about it just weeks before the controversial leader's death.
Although Pabón, who was a businessman and a City Council candidate, looks back fondly on the visit now, he was extremely nervous for Castro's safety at the time.
"Maybe this is the right place for them to assassinate him," Pabón said he thought. "And I’m going to be remembered as the guy who was responsible for Fidel’s assassination."
The CIA has acknowledged various clandestine campaigns against the Caribbean leader, including an exploding seashell and LSD poisoning, according to the agency's website.
Castro's 1995 visit to The Bronx was sparked by Pabón's anger over a decision from then-mayor Rudy Giuliani not to invite the Cuban leader to a dinner for heads of state in the city for the United Nations' 50th anniversary celebration.
In response, Pabón put together a press release to let Castro know he could still come to The Bronx and, although he initially maintained that this visit would almost certainly not happen, once Castro himself saw a copy of the press release, he decided he would make the trip.
More than 300 people attended the meal, where Castro gave a roughly 40-minute speech on subjects ranging from Cuba's involvement with the American Revolution and Civil War to the island's own 1959 revolution, according to Pabón.
"It started out with Cuban [history]," Pabón said.
"He’s a very bright man. What he wanted to do was, he wanted to educate people.
"When he gave us that whole global aspect of how Cuba and the United States have this intricate relationship, way beyond what you think, then he started getting into the politics of what happened in Cuba with the ’59 revolution."
A private reception took place after the event, where Pabón said Castro gave him an autographed copy of his book "History Will Absolve Me" and flirted with his wife, daughter and assistant.
"He said, 'My, aren’t there some beautiful flowers in The Bronx,'" Pabón said, "and my wife, then she elbowed me. She said, 'Look, the old man is flirting.'"
Pabón held onto his autographed copy of "History Will Absolve Me" after the event but said it was stolen roughly two years later. He had planned to give Castro an autographed copy of his own book, entitled "Knockout: Fidel Castro Visits the South Bronx," and hopes he will still be able to present a copy to one of his relatives.
"He had written, 'To my friend Julio, from one daring person to another, Fidel," Pabón said.
"So I wrote in my book to him, To my friend Fidel, from one daring person to another.'"
Castro left behind an incredibly controversial legacy in Cuba. Although the island made improvements in health care and education under his rule, it also saw the imprisonment of thousands of people, the harassment and intimidation of thousands more and a lack of basic political freedoms, according to Human Rights Watch.
However, Pabón remains passionate and unapologetic in his support for the former Cuban leader, saying that his death felt "almost like losing a good friend or family member."
