I had the honor to visit the Cuban Permanent Mission at United Nations to pay my respects to the late Fidel Castro. I met my supervisor and a few others in Manhattan at 10AM. We went in and all waited to sign his farewell book. There was a lot of sadness in the air, a very somber mood.

Everyone basically embraced each other and hoped for the best in considering Cuba’s future. It was suddenly my turn into the room to write my Rest In Peace message. Upon sitting and holding the pen, I completely blanked. I had no idea what to write. I didn’t really have any prior knowledge of what Fidel Castro accomplished as a leader. I eventually wrote a short goodbye message and wished Cuba the best.

We took the train back to the office and continued on the mail-out process for the holiday cards. The rest of the day was very drab. There were two interns as well, so we basically chatted and got to know more about each other while doing our task. I stayed until 5PM and then headed out for the day.

Later on, I read up on Castro and learned about his history with Cuba. I just thought it was completely disrespectful the way that he was portrayed through the media, as well as his death being celebrated in Miami by the Cuban people.