Castro Look-Alike Helps Launch Inaugural Flight

Fly Fidel?

A look-alike of Cuban President Fidel Castro, with a fake beard and fatigues, greeted passengers in celebration of American Airlines’ new nonstop service from Austin, Texas, to Miami on Sunday.

Later, a voice came over the plane’s loudspeakers: “Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. This is Fidel Castro and I’m going to fly you to Miami.”

At least one passenger on the flight wasn’t amused.

“I was so surprised that I shrieked,” said Ana Maria Pozo, a Cuban-American attorney who lives in Austin, Texas. “I told them it was … an insult to all Cubans.”

American Airlines said its employees in Austin did not have corporate clearance for the Castro look-alike and for a woman with him dressed like Carmen Miranda, complete with a hat fashioned from fruit. In a statement, the airline said it “demonstrated a complete lack of sensitivity.”

Besides, Carmen Miranda was Brazilian.