castro and his men drove down the central highway into havana in a very jubilant victory parade. a few days after taking over, castro held a speech, his first public speech. and it was just -- people as far as the eye could see. i guess i was watching it on tv, i do remember that. castro was giving a speech. in the middle of the speech, this white dove comes and lands on his shoulder. i remember as a young child, i was six years old thinking wow, this is really strange. that sort of stuff doesn't happen. i was very excited. everybody was excited and hopeful. fidel was a mythic larger than life figure who had done the impossible. he had overthrown a dictatorship that had a large army, all the