[MRadtke]

Wasn’t it a while back that Castro spoke at the U.N.? I do remember some controversy about allowing him in, it seemed that we didn’t have to allow him a visa and could have kept him out.

Can anyone clarify this for me? Thanks.

[Route66]

Wasn’t it a while back that Castro spoke at the U.N.? I do remember some controversy about allowing him in, it seemed that we didn’t have to allow him a visa and could have kept him out. Can anyone clarify this for me? Thanks.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/907125.stm

This article is from September of 2000. It refers to Castro Applying for a visa. Here is a quote from the article.

...UN spokesman, Fred Eckhard, said that as the UN's host country the United States was obliged to give Fidel Castro a visa. "The United States has signed the host country agreement saying that it will facilitate the entry into the United States of all those who need to come here to participate in official UN business. "There is a small caveat to that, that if there are overriding national security concerns, visas can be denied," Mr Eckhard said...

I think it would not be very hard to make a case for "overriding national security concerns" in this case if one had the guts to tell the truth and stand ground against the inevitable shrill whining that would ensue.