The came to get us in the middle of the night. The location was secret and we were taken to a building on the outskirts of Havanna. Fidel Castro’s security detail did not mess around. In spite of being (according to Cuban state security) the target of 643 assassination attempts - Fidel Castro ruled Cuba for 47 years - during the same time span - 10 different US presidents served. Castro took power in 1959 when he led the overthrow of the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, making Cuba the first Communist country in the Western Hemisphere. Fidel Castro brought social reforms to Cuba but at the same time heavily oppressed human rights. Many saw him as a ruthless dictator. Thousands of Cubans fled to the USA during his regime. He died on November 25 2016.
Kjell Olof Feldt was the Swedish Finance minister for many years. Later in his life he - among other things - bravely posed when we made a series of summer-articles for the newspaper “Expressen”. His wife Birgitta von Otter happily talked him into wearing the snazzy swim-trunks. He passed away January 8,l 2025.
Bo Lundgren was Tax and deputy Finance minister 1991-1994 in Sweden. My assignment was to, somehow, illustrate the fact that Sweden’s fiscal management was good - and with a little help from the physically adept minister it succeeded. I think that the hardest thing for the minister, was to not crack a smile.
The Swedish Prime minister meets the Auschwitz survivor Hédi Fried. During the meeting he promised her to never cooperate with the Swedish Democrats - a party with Neo-Nazi roots. He later claimed this was a misunderstanding and that the promise was made as a possible leader of an Alliance of parties - not as the leader of his own, Moderaterna. However, this had earlier been contradicted - by his own words in several interviews.
The visual anatomy of new government in Sweden. Led by Ulf Kristersson.
The visual anatomy of new government in Sweden. Led by Stefan Löfven.