Argentine president has lunch with Fidel

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner shared luncheon with Fidel Castro on Sunday (Jan. 26).

The Argentine president apparently had been invited some time ago, because she was the first hemispheric leader to arrive in Cuba for the Second Summit of the CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States), which begins Tuesday (Jan. 28).

She arrived in Havana at 7:15 p.m. on Saturday (Jan. 25), accompanied by Argentine Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman and other officials.

On Sunday at 12:45 p.m., Fernández left the Hotel National, where she is staying, telling journalists outside: “Fidel invited me to lunch.” With her were her 24-year–old daughter, Florencia, and the presidential press secretary, Alfredo Soccimarro.

Upon returning, three hours later, Fernández commented only that the visit had gone “Well, very well” and that “The luncheon was very tasty.” No details of the menu were immediately available, although a photograph was released by the Castro household.

According to official sources, Fidel’s entire family attended the luncheon, and one of Fidel’s sons, Alex, who is a photographer, gave Fernández’s daughter a book of photographs.

This was the third private meeting in Havana between Fernández and Castro. They also met in January 2013, when they had lunch with Castro’s brother Raúl, and in January 1999.

Last September, on the occasion of the birth of Fernández’s grandson, Néstor Iván, Fidel Castro sent the child a package of presents.