The Odd Couple

One is an earthy soldier-dictator who still flaunts his revolutionary past by wearing olive-green fatigues and a pistol at his side. The other is a polished, quick-witted intellectual, an urbane man of the book rather than the gun. They would seem to have little in common, yet by the time Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau ended a three-day visit to Fidel Castro's Cuba last week, an obvious rapport had developed between the two leaders. As TIME's Ottawa bureau chief William Mader, who accompanied Trudeau, reported, the airport farewell ceremonies turned into a kind of emotional family affair as Castro embraced Trudeau, kissed his wife Margaret and cuddled their four-month-old baby. When asked at a Havana press conference what he thought of Castro, Trudeau positively gushed, "I'd rate him A1. All kinds of superlatives. I've never seen a charismatic leader before. I'm really impressed."

Castro returned the compliments, albeit with a bit more restraint. Appearing with Trudeau at a sugar refinery, Castro told a crowd of 25,000 how grateful he was that Canada had always "stood by Cuba"--meaning that Ottawa, unlike the U.S. and most of Latin America, had never broken diplomatic relations with Havana.

Chickens and Locomotives. Trudeau's visit--part of a Latin American tour that also included Mexico and Venezuela--was designed to advance ties between Cuba and Canada (Canadian trade last year: exports to Cuba, $156.1 million; imports, $59.8 million). Castro thanked his guest for the fact that Canada, over the years, had helped Cuba with everything "from chickens to cattle to trucks and locomotives." Addressing the crowd in almost flawless Spanish, Trudeau praised Cuban-Canadian relations as proof that countries with "very different and even opposite systems . . . are learning to speak together and work together toward the solution of common problems."

Trudeau's stay in Cuba was busy and carefully organized. More than 100,000 people, cheering, "Viva Cuba-Canada!" lined his eight-mile route from Jose Marti Airport to downtown Havana. With Castro as a helpful guide, Trudeau visited a housing project, a cattle-breeding farm, schools and factories; his host even took the Prime Minister, a devotee of water sports, on a snorkeling expedition near the Bay of Pigs. There was also time for six hours of congenial discussion on such issues as the expansion of trade and the law of the sea.

On one issue the two leaders, as Trudeau put it at the press conference, could only "agree to disagree." That was the problem of Cuba's involvement in the Angolan civil war. The Prime Minister had been sharply criticized back home for going to Cuba at a time when Castro was intervening in Africa--even though the trip had been planned for several months. In answer to his critics, the Prime Minister twice told Castro that Canada did not believe in foreign intervention, specifically in Angola. Nonetheless, the two leaders were careful to prevent the issue from souring the diplomatic mood. Said Trudeau: "It was obvious to me that Premier Castro had made his decision [to intervene] with a great deal of thought and feeling."

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