Castro, of course, made a similar move for a much better reason 40 years ago. From Africana.com:
"Castro's first visit to Harlem was in September 1960, when the Cuban leader attended a UN meeting and chose to stay in Harlem’s Hotel Theresa after the management of the Shelburne Hotel in midtown asked the Cuban delegation to pay for its stay in advance.
"Speaking in Harlem forty years later, Castro recalled his first visit. 'I had to choose between two options: either set up a tent in the patio of the UN plaza -- and as guerrillas who had just descended from the mountains that was not impossible -- or, we could go up to Harlem, to one of whose hotels I had been invited,' he said. 'I decided, "I'm going to Harlem, because it is there that I will find my best friends."'"
Carl
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