Andres Pastrana said Epstein was going to Bahamas and later on decided to visit Cuba for a day, they meet with Fidel and Pastrana stayed while Epstein flew to some other country. The Miami Herald (a known gusano newspaper) goes on some weird conspiracy theory that Epstein was planning to live in Cuba or whatever.

Pastrana wrote in a Twitter statement: 'Amid journalistic revelations about horrifying and reprehensible sex scandals of financier Jeffrey Epstein, a trip of mine on his plane to Nassau, Bahamas has appeared, to transfer to the final destination of Havana, Cuba, invited by President Fidel Castro, Mr. Jeffrey Epstein left Cuba a day or two later; I stayed on the island,' he added.

At the same time, and particularly from 2001 to 2003 before the dissident crackdown, Castro was basking in the accolades of the clueless Hollywood left, who were angry that George W. Bush was president. Jeffrey Epstein ran in celebrity circles and partied with them, so Cuba would have easily been on his radar.

The day before Jeffrey Epstein flew to Havana on his Lolita Express, 75 dissidents, independent journalists and librarians were rounded up across the island in a series of brutal raids that became known as the Cuban Black Spring. The government imprisoned 75 dissidents, including 29 journalists on the basis that they were acting as agents of the United States by accepting funds from the US government and George W. Bush's administration at the time.

The crackdown on dissidents began on 18 March, during the US invasion of Iraq, and lasted two days. All of the dissidents were eventually released, most of whom were exiled to Spain starting in 2010.

[–] kristina@hexbear.net 13 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Doesn't seem like Fidel had much contact with him?

[–] Redcuban1959@hexbear.net 15 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I don't think Fidel even knew who he was other than "another American/Western Businessman". During that time Cuba was getting visits from many Latin American and some American famous people. Even the gusano newspapers say that Fidel probably just accepted him there because he thought Epstein was just another famous American person with ties to Latin American leaders who wanted to visit Cuba.

I couldn't find any news in Spanish or Portuguese about it, but I guess if there's a photo, it must have happened. It wouldn't surprise me if rich Americans were secretly taking short vacations in Cuba using fake passports. Pastrana is a POS and very dishonest, but he confirmed that they were going to the Bahamas first and then decided to visit Cuba because Fidel invited them both, but I imagine Pastrana was the one who actually interacted and talked to Fidel.