The day Fidel Castro passes away, most Cubans will be very sad and we will have a funeral ... but it will not create a major problem."-Carlos Alzugaray

Carlos Alzugaray, who spent 40 years representing the Cuban government around the world, wishes NBC newsman Brian Williams had asked a different question during the recent Republican presidential debate in Jacksonville, Fla.

Williams asked the GOP hopefuls what they would do if they received a 3 a.m. phone call telling them that Fidel Castro had died and half a million Cubans were making their way to the United States aboard rickety boats.

Among the major candidates, only Ron Paul's response drew applause. Paul said he would immediately work to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba and resume trade with the island nation, ending a U.S. embargo that has existed for more than 60 years.

Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum each vowed to continue the hard line against Cuba that has been in place with only slight, temporary let ups since 1961.

During a visit to Indiana State University last week (Jan. 29-31), Alzugaray suggested what he called "a more realistic question" about what the men would do if told Cuba had made a major oil and gas discovery and was offering to sell petroleum to the United States at a good price.

"That is actually a more likely scenario. The day Fidel Castro passes away, most Cubans will be very sad and we will have a funeral ... but it will not create a major problem."

Alzugaray - a professor at the University of Havana's Center for Hemispheric and United States Studies and a former Cuban Foreign Ministry official - provided students a rare opportunity to hear the Cuban perspective of an international dispute that has persisted through 10 U.S. presidential administrations. He visited political science, history and Spanish classes and met with faculty, who are interested in exploring opportunities for educational exchanges, and delivered a public lecture at Cunningham Memorial Library.  More >>