Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro has criticised Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over what he said were his 'anti-Semitic' attitudes.
Jeffrey Goldberg, a national correspondent for The Atlantic, blogged on the American magazine's website yesterday that he was on holiday last month when the head of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington - which Cuba maintains there instead of an embassy - called to say Mr Castro had read his recent article about Israel and Iran and wanted him to come to Cuba.
Mr Goldberg asked Julia Sweig, a Cuba-US policy expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, to accompany him, and the pair spent portions of three days talking with Castro.
Cuba's state-controlled media reported last week that Mr Goldberg and Ms Sweig met the former Cuban president and attended a dolphin show at Havana's aquarium, but the blog was the first to reveal details of what they discussed.
Mr Goldberg said their first meeting lasted five hours and featured appearances by Mr Castro's wife, Dalia, his son Antonio, and several bodyguards, two of which held his elbow to steady the former revolutionary when he moved.
"His body may be frail, but his mind is acute, his energy level is high," wrote Mr Goldberg.
He said the 84-year-old, who himself has been a fierce critic of Israel, "repeatedly returned to his excoriation of anti-Semitism," chiding Mr Ahmadinejad for denying the Holocaust.
Mr Castro said Iran could further the cause of peace by 'acknowledging the 'unique' history of anti-Semitism and trying to understand why Israelis fear for their existence.'
Mr Castro related a story from his childhood that has been detailed by some biographers: that he overheard classmates saying Jews killed Jesus Christ. 'I didn't know what a Jew was. I knew of a bird that was a called a 'Jew,' and so for me the Jews were those birds,' Mr Goldberg quoted Mr Castro as telling him.
Mr Castro later added: "This is how ignorant the entire population was."
According to Mr Goldberg, the former leader said: "I don't think anyone has been slandered more than the Jews. I would say much more than the Muslims."
Mr Castro also said that the Iranian government should understand that the Jews "were expelled from their land, persecuted and mistreated all over the world, as the ones who killed God".
After undergoing emergency intestinal surgery in July 2006, giving up Cuba's presidency and dropping out of sight for four years, Mr Castro has begun making near-daily public appearances to warn of a nuclear war pitting the US and Israel against Iran and also featuring a Washington-led attack on North Korea.
"This problem is not going to get resolved, because the Iranians are not going to back down in the face of threats," Mr Castro told the journalist.
AP