Fidel Castro ( 1926-2016 ) was a great revolutionary world leader from Cuba. His beard is synonimous with his stature. Castro the man as a political reality he represents is replaced more by the beard.
C.I.A made certain infamous attempts to deface the beard of the leader which was confessed before the Congress. Their plan was to mix certain chemicals into the cigar which Castro regularly used. If it was found out and proved, they were certain about death sentence by the law of the land ! What does it mean? They believed his power will be reduced to zero in absence of the beard! Is he not the man and the spirit behind all the social and political upheavals and development of the nation-Cuba. Alas, but the ' media' has given a different image of the person giving more importance to the beard !
It was in 1977, the lady correspondent of a leading newspaper interviewed Castro with bold question : Sir, will you ever come in public shaving away the beard? Knowing fully aware of the undue importance given to his beard by the media, he said: Do you know why we are not removing the beard ? It is because we are unable to get razors. Times have changed. Guarrilas were recognized by their beards alone. Moreover, it was difficult to intrude spies into our team. Beard takes a longer time to grow and hence it served a purpose. And it has become a symbol too.
Anastasio Somoza ( 1896-1956 ) was the President of Nicaragua and he had strange and fiery wish. Somozo asked his troops before proceeding to capture 'Bay of Pig' , at least to bring a hair from Castro's beard. The Cuban anti revolution troops of Somoza miserably lost the adventure and Somoza was shot to death. Nobody asked for his body parts. When Castro addressed on the first Annual celebration at Nicaragua he roared: Somozo wanted only single hair of my beard. I am before you with my full beard to the people of free Nicaragua from the terrorism.
One can see how the media's imagination and views destroys the sense of Truth in this context and is a lesson for the present too !
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