This morning as I was wandering through the main square here, I saw far more security than normal - (generally you don't see goons in suits and shades monitoring the passers-by). Imagine my surprise, when I discovered that the source of all this 'additional' security, was none other than the brother of the 'Dictator's Dictator', Fidel Castro, Rául Castro.

Rául is the nominal Cuban Minster of Defence and is also responsible for 'internal security'. Do I need to draw a picture .?

So next time, i'm in the center of the town, I'm taking my camera, just in case the next 'honoured visitor' happens to be Pinochet or one of the luminaries of North Korea....

So, How many dictators have you met?...Jim

Only celebrity I've ever had the pleasure of meeting is Bruce 'The Clown' Grobbelaar - the former Liverpool 'keeper from Liverpool's glory days. Of course that was also before he was charged with match fixing...

However our dear President Mbeki is chums with all the dictators, so we have lots of them visiting SA... with a few even building houses in Cape Town... so black 4x4's with blacked out windows driving dangerously are quite common around here...

If you count ex-girlfreinds then 1

Hi, I met one of the CEO's of General Motors years ago once when he was inspecting our 'used-to-be' plant and deciding to put the ax to it. Does that count?

Take care, Sgirty

I got to meet both the former CEOs of both Compaq and HP. I felt like I should kneel in their presence. I know when they both left the company they won't have to worry where their next meal will come from. Hope I can say the same when I leave.

I live just down the street from the Air Force Academy. I got to see the motorcade for VP Cheney when he came a few years ago to address graduation, like he will again this year. I also got to see Air Force One land with President Bush when he addressed them last year.

Do any of those count?

(before I get blasted I'm just kidding here about the last two being dictators.)

Oh, back in the day I was quite good friends with Benito, Adolf and Joeseph, but I think that was my past life

Phil Condit, Harry Stonecipher - both FORMER Boeing CEO's who "resigned" under a cloud of suspicion.

On the brighter side I have met the following Medal of Honor Winners,

Walter Ehlers
Pappy Boyington
Joe Foss

Well I've had dinner with the primeminister of Sweden several times, and spent many a night at his appartment in Malmo, of course that was before he divorced my friends mom and hooked up with another chick.

It was the best deal, the appartment was smack downtown, close to the bars, and breakfast made by the 'first' lady the day after, and with armed security to boot.

Aaaah The good ol days!

Although Im not sure he qualifies as a dictator in any way or form, but sill a head of state!

At my age, with a long list of former SWMBO's..... they all fall into the Dictator status. Fortunately none had moustaches or were bald. When the goose stepping started, it was time for me to goose step right out the door...... :-) :-) :-)

Just 3 I am sorry to say.

Fidel Castro
The Shah of Iran Pahalavi
Osama Bin Laden
The Shah just one step ahead of the overthrow

and Osama when he was fighting the Russians in Afghanistan.

There is always a reget (after the fact) that you weren't in communication with an Apache flying nearby...Jim

Hillary Clinton.

And if US Presidents are considered dictators by some, I got a few moments to speak with Bill Clinton during his time in office. And I took care of that deficit too!

Steve

My mother in law, which makes up for 10 dictators.

My grandpa once went fishing with Franco. Rather funny story behind it too that he loves to tell. Now though, since he is getting a bit old and unfortunately a bit senile, he tells people that he was good friends with Franco which was not the case. It was just by luck of the draw that he happened to go fishing with the dictator.

Way back when my gramps was one of the civilian contractors in charge of building NATO bases in Spain so he lived over there. While he was there he found a really good fishing spot in the woods so he told his boss about it and invited him out. So the boss bought all sorts of expensive fishing gear and flew to spain to go fishing. So the two of them went out into the woods to the great place for fishing. On the first day, they caught nothing. The second day, they decided to hike a bit further up the river. Again, in the morning they caught nothing. By now my grandpa was getting very nervous. Here was his boss who had spent a lot of money on fishing equipment becuase my grandpa told him to fly across the Atlantic for great fishing and they were catching nothing. So the two started to hike even further up the river. However, on the way they were stopped by one of Franco's bodyguards.

As it turns out, they had put a net up in the river so that Franco could catch all the fish that were there and they could not swim away. I dont know exactly how the next part happened, but the two spent the rest of the second day and the third day fishing with the dictator of spain and catching tons of fish all because of the net in the river.

I opened the car door for H.R.H. Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother once when she was visiting Smithfield market in London. she said thank you to me and i nearly knocked me helmet off saluting. :-)

A funny story about my grandfather that is along these lines...
My grandfather grew up as a staunch Democrat and being such along with being one of the guys running the AFL-CIO chapter for Allen-Bradley/Rockwell Automation in Milwaukee, He had the opportunity to meet and get a photo with JFK. Well, a few years ago, he planned a trip with a few friends to Haiti or the Dominican Republic (can't remember which). He had to cancel at the last minute due to illness but he found out later that the people he would have gone with meet and had their pictures taken with el Presidente himself, Fidel Castro. To this day, he kicks himself over not going. He said he would have placed the photo of him with Castro right next to the photo of Kennedy. "Think of the irony," he would say. "The two leaders involved in the event that brought us one order away from nuclear war, and I would have meet both."
Kyle

Hi All
When my brother was serving in the middle east with British Army some time before the recent Wars he was in Saudi Arabia.
They were there doing some trainning of some military personel. They were at the range my brother looked over to a group of officials and in amongest them was a rather large african guy, my brother stright away saw that it was Idi Amin former dictator of Uganda looking very splendid in his expensive threads.(he was infact a guest of the saudi gov and remaind so untill his death).

My brother spoke with a Saudi Liason guy and said the trainning would not continue untill he left the location there was a quick huddle amongest them and they started to move away from the location as they did so Amin looked across to my brother and the three other instructors with quite a glare.
With that my brother and the other Brits stood smartly to attention which seemed to please him and then gave him what he discribed as a selection of "Monty Python salutes, Amins eyes went like dinner plates
which was followed by remember Enttebi.
As you can tell my brother and the other guys really did not give a rats a---se .
Amin was always a cruel dangerous pompus SOB even awarded himself the Victoria Cross my brother always said that he would have made a first class target on that range, we still laugh about the Monty Python bit,. sad that he did not leave the Ugandans to much to laugh about.
Yust thought that would make a bloody good dio
Cheers Chris

When he was in the Royal Marines, my father nearly went to Yalta, but he managed to be ill and missed it.

Never met any political dictators, but my former boss qualified in other ways - specially when he sacked me. How sad was I when i found out the same thing had happened to him? :-)

I see one everyday....my plant manager. He is the worst kind of dictator there is.....the bipolar kind.

You have no clue when he approaches you how paintful the ordeal is going to be.

Fun stuff my friends.

Matt (Scunge) as a postscript to your grandfather's story, yesterday, in one of the local papers there was a piece about Franco's 'Trout-fishing' antics. Which totally confirmed what your grandfather said. There are also various references to it in the (definitive) biography of Franco by Paul Preston....Nice one!...Jim

Only 2......Pierre Trudeau and Jean Chretien.

On the brighter side, have also met (the former) Princess of Wales, and the Duke of Edinburgh.

I never met a ruthless dictator until I got married.