FIDEL MEETS OBATALÁ

Was Fidel Castro sent from god? Some say yes and a certain occurrence at his inauguration seems to confirm this.

In 1959, as Fidel was coming into power, those who may have been looking for a sign from the Orishas found a pretty auspicious one during Castro’s victory speech. White doves flew down and perched on Castro’s shoulder and podium for nearly two hours as Fidel spoke. In Santería, Obatalá is represented by doves and the color white. Not surprisingly, many people took this as a sign that Fidel’s rein was Divinely inspired. 

Fidel’s funeral fell on the Feast Day for the Orisha Changó. Though we aren’t sure that any turtles or dogs showed up to represent Changó, plenty of people wore red for Changó on Castro’s funeral observance.

Tangentially unrelated: paloma is dove in Spanish. Paloma Irizarry designed and runs the English/Spanish supertitles for this show.