Castro, Guevara golfing on a former duPont course

This famous Alberto Korda image of Fidel Castro putting as Che Guevara watches, found on the Daily Mail newspaper internet site, has a Delaware connection. The year was 1961, after Castro seized power in Cuba with a revolution that has been celebrated continually since then. The golf course where they played that day was on a Cuban estate called Xanadu owned by Irenee duPont of Delaware. It’s been reported that Castro and Guevara staged the golf game as a means of mocking President Eisenhower who had earlier snubbed Castro during a visit to Washigton, D.C.  

Castro seized the property as part of his takeover in the revolution. His government preserved the mansion, its furnishing and grounds as a museum. Visitors to the Xanadu mansion today, perched on a rocky bluff near the city of Varadero overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, may find duPont-crested china set on the large dining room table as if a family dinner were about to be served.  On the walls of the dining room are paintings from Brandywine School artists such as Frank Schoonover, brought to Cuba by the duPont family in the early 1930s when the mansion was built.

Two decades or so ago, when Pete duPont was serving as U.S. representative from Delaware, he said he was contacted one day by Cuban officials looking for answers to questions about Xanadu.  DuPont said he told the Cubans he would be happy to help out, but only after the property was returned to its rightful owners, or proper compensation was given. Castro died last week at the age of 91.