Fidel, Monica and me

Fri, 01 Mar 2002 21:00:00 +0000

I nearly went to Cuba once, with a group of American journalists, but the Elián González affair got in the way and the trip was canceled. I kept trying; it was my life's dream to interview Fidel Castro, a man whose small country has been stirring debate around the world for 40 years. As an unknown journalist, I didn't have a prayer of getting Castro's attention. But as a great-granddaughter of Nikita Khrushchev, Castro's former political mentor, I might have a serious chance.

That interview was merely a pretext. I am all for meritocracy and think it the essence of professional ethics in the New World. Doing things and succeeding on my own -- and not on the basis of my last name -- was why I moved from Russia to the United States 11 years ago in the first place. (No one did nepotism better than the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.) But secretly I wanted to approach Castro the old-fashioned way: Arrive for an interview, use my female charms, seduce and marry Fidel and forever fix for myself -- well, what? A great career, perhaps? Notoriety? Scandal? Something big, no matter what.

Salon.com > Nina Khrushcheva

Fidel, Monica and me