Fidel Castro obsessed with “impressive” Obama: Wikileaks

WASHINGTON - Former Cuba President Fidel Castro had an obsession for US President Barack Obama, and praised him as a “very good communicator” with “impressive working capacity”, according to Secret US diplomatic cables.

The Guardian quoted the cables as saying that Castro, who had seen off 10 US presidents - all committed to his assassination, overthrow or isolation, found Obama different and became obsessed with him.

Earlier he had predicted that the US would not elect a black man, but when Obama swept to the White House, Castro filled pages with praises for the President in his Reflections columns in the communist party newspaper.

“Fidel’s subsequent Reflection on 9 June will only add to speculation from our civil society and diplomatic contacts that Fidel is obsessed with President Obama,” the paper quoted one memo, as saying.

Earlier, Obama’s speech in Cairo on US relations with Muslims inspired a 3,500-word response from the retired Cuban leader in which he lauded Obama as a “very good communicator” with “impressive working capacity”.

He noted that the president of the US, called “Potus” in the cables, took office at an “exceptionally complex time” and could not be blamed for the Middle East quagmire he inherited.

In other Reflections columns, Castro, who called George Bush a genocidal drunk, praised Obama as intelligent, sincere, serene, honest and well-meaning. He welcomed the president’s Nobel peace prize and called his position on global warming ‘courageous’. (ANI)