I would like to congratulate you on an excellent issue of True North, Friday, March 14, and may I comment particularly on your background piece on how "Fidel" came to find a place in True North.
I must say I surprised myself by reading your forward to his stories three times. I was fascinated by the experiences that led to this decision. And of course I went on to read Fidel's short articles with interest.
This brought back memories when I was fortunate enough to have actually seen "the one and only" in person in New York in 1960 when he addressed the UN and stayed in Harlem. Needless to say the experience was a once-in-a-lifetime over-the-top experience that I will never forget. Harlem was filled with people chanting "Fidel! Fidel!" as he leaned out of his Harlem Hotel window.
As a frequent visitor to Cuba I can attest to the achievements of the Revolution. Not to deny that there are problems.
On one visit I went to a rural two-room school to take some supplies. I was told Fidel had promised that as a goal every school would have a computer. I went back to the same two-room school the next year and lo and behold there was a computer. I could not restrain my tears of joy.
Finally in reference to the two American doctors who said in 1938 that Cubans suffered from a viral infection that entered the soles of the feet and that most Cubans couldn’t afford shoes. Well, you may be interested to know that today all Cubans can afford to buy whatever footwear pleases them.
Frances Sedgwick
Toronto, Ontario, Canada