Castro is a very striking chap . . . We addressed a meeting together. What is the name of that town, man? A crowd like that in a small country? It was a fantastic crowd; I think there were about 300,000 people. Everyone seated on chairs. He spoke about three hours without a piece of paper, quoted figures, and he showed that America was bankrupt, you know? And not a single person left except to go to the toilet and come back .. . I was tremendously impressed by Castro and also by his humility — very humble chap, you know? When . . . I [was] driving with him through the city, he just sat down and folded his arms, and I was the person who was waving to the crowd . . . After speaking, we . . . went into the crowd; he was greeting everybody . . . I noticed that he will greet . . . a white person, then he goes to greet somebody who's dark. I don't know whether that was purely accidental or deliberate. [He was] very warm, talked to them for some time . . . I then realised that this enthusiasm and waving was not really for me as we were driving through the city; it was directed to Castro . . . Nobody bothered about me at all [laughs] . . . I was tremendously impressed by him.

From the book Conversations With Myself
by Nelson Mandela (2010), p. 389
Preface by President Barack Obama