President Fidel Castro led a day of homage on Friday to John Lennon as a "revolutionary" hero in a cultural about-face by Cuba's communist authorities toward the Beatles star, whose music was once frowned on as a decadent Western influence.
To the musical backdrop of All You Need Is Love, a military-dressed Castro, aided by star Cuban singer Silvio Rodriguez, unveiled a bronze statue of Lennon sitting on a bench in a Havana park.
"What makes him great in my eyes is his thinking, his ideas," Castro told reporters after the ceremony, which was timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of Lennon's murder in New York.
"I share his dreams completely. I too am a dreamer who has seen his dreams turn into reality," added the 74-year-old former guerrilla who took power in the 1959 Cuban Revolution.
Other honors for the Beatles star included a documentary by Castro's personal cameraman, Roberto Chile, tributes from state media and an open-air concert on Friday evening in Cuba's "anti-imperialist" arena opposite the US diplomatic mission.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Beatles songs were considered "ideological diversionism" by Cuban authorities. Local music lovers recount that Liverpool's Fab Four were barely heard on the island, with the exception of clandestine parties where smuggled tapes might be played with the lights off.
In the still tightly controlled but culturally more liberal Cuba of today, Lennon is now cast as a born rebel and a constant victim of US harassment.
Friday's honors were intended to "integrate Lennon into the patrimony of the cultural values that our people admire and respect," an official statement said.
"Declassified FBI documents have made public the aggression he suffered for his radical position against the Vietnam War during Richard Nixon's administration," it said.
Despite his enthusiastic tribute, Castro confessed that he did not listen much to the Beatles in their heyday because "I did not have much time." He added that unlike others around the world who cut their hair Beatles-style, "I never cut my hair modeled on anyone."
What would he say to Lennon if the singer and songwriter were still alive? "'I'm sorry I didn't meet you before,'" Castro said.
The Communist Party daily, Granma, put the Beatles on a list of the most "relevant" figures of the 20th century last year, below Castro, Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, and Argentine-born guerrilla Ernesto "Che" Guevara.
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