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| Conspirator, actor, wrestler, ex marine, author, 38th Governor of Minnesota |
Washington Times/ Kevin Kelly/
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Kelly: In your previous book “Don’t Start the
Revolution without Me” you discuss a trip you took to Cuba.
Hypothetically, if Obama or Romney wins in 2012, and relations between
Cuba and the United States drastically improve, and if the President or
Romney asked you, would you consider becoming the American Ambassador to
Cuba?
Ventura: Absolutely. I had already volunteered for
that. I said that if we change relations with Cuba, I would love to be
the Ambassador to Cuba. Love to be it. Not only would it be historical
because we haven’t had one in half a century or more. I went there and I
was the only elected official who had a one hour meeting with Fidel
Castro.
Kelly: What’s he like?
Ventura: I found him very engaging. When I met him,
he had the most distinctive handshake and I’ve shook a lot of hands, but
I’ll always remember his. He looked me right in the eye, and the first
thing he said to was: You’re a man of great courage. I looked at him,
and I said: Mr. President, you don’t know me, how can you say that? He
said: Because you defied your President to come here. I said: Well,
you’ll find I defy almost everything. He started laughing.
When I got out of office, he secretly sent me a message. Castro did.
One day my chief of staff came in, and he said: Governor you’ve got to
go to the Governor’s residence after work today at 4 o’clock. He said:
You’ve got to go there first. He quietly said to me: Cuba. So I went
home, and the guy came via the Swiss Embassy because we have no
relationship with Cuba. He met with me, and the message he was sending
me was when I was getting out of office, here’s what I was told. He
said: Governor I’m here to tell you something. I’m here to tell you: A
friend of Cuba will always be a friend of Cuba. In other words, they
knew I was getting out of office, but it didn’t matter to them. I would
still be their friend. A lot of people would call me a traitor for that.
Wouldn’t they?
Kelly: No. I think it speaks great volumes that we
can see each other across the battle line and we’re able to reconcile
our differences with one another.
Ventura: Do you want to know the most disgusting
thing I ever saw was? Remember Hurricane Katrina? Fidel Castro offered
us 100 doctors to go to New Orleans, and George Bush turned him down
flat. Come on. If anybody knows about hurricanes its Fidel. Cuba gets
hit all the time. Here he does a gesture where he holds out the fig
leaf, and what do we do? We slap it back in his face. One of the first
things I’d do if I was President, I would end the embargo immediately,
and do you know what else I would do? I would go down visit Fidel, as
old as he is, and I would say: Fidel, we will close Gitmo within one
year and give it back to the people of Cuba.
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