Fidel Castro was granted a visa and was allowed to speak at the United Nation’s 50th anniversary celebration, but local reaction to Washington politics differ on how the U.S. has and should handle him in further negotiations.

Bill Garner, an SIUC associate professor in political science, said it is ridiculous that Castro, the communist leader of Cuba, has been denied entrance into the U.S. before the United Nation’s celebration.

Not since 1960, when Castro addressed the United Nations in New York, has he made an appearance in the U.S.

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We can’t deny his existence. He’s only 90 miles away, Garner said. We can’t wish him away that would be playing sandbox politics just because he operates on the wrong’ ideological basis.

We knew he wasn’t going to be a clear and present danger to our country. He ceased being that decades ago.

Jim Hides, president of the Sophists Club, said he has mixed feelings on Castro’s entrance into the U.S. The Sophists Club is a campus group that discusses political issues.

While it’s a good thing for us to interact with Cuba, such as cultural and political exchanges, it’s a bad thing for us give him a visa, Hides said. Hides, a senior in political science from Chicago, said he feels the U.S. should be opening ties with Cuba, but not through Castro.

I think what we’re saying is that we’re letting Castro into the country, we’re not supporting Castro, he said. Although he was the speaker, it was Cuba that went to the United Nations anniversary.

Castro spoke Sunday to international political leaders who gathered in New York, criticizing the United Nation’s lack of organization and the U.S. as one of four countries involved in a abuse of authority.

Garner said he does not sympathize with what Castro has done to Cuba, but there is an advantage to looking him eyeball to eyeball.

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It is always better to include him in organizations where we can watch him, he said.

One motive for President Bill Clinton to allow Castro entrance to the U.S. is probably that the president wants to establish some sort of relations with Cuba after Castro is no longer in power, Garner said.

Sen. Jessie Helms, R-N.C., is spearheading a bill against Cuba which would strengthen a U.S. trade embargo that has been in place for almost three decades. Garner said the Helms issue is the crux of the whole U.S./Cuban impasse over the 35 years.

The Helms mentality represents the basis for us shooting ourselves in the foot, he said. In his eyes, we have guys in black hats and guys in white hats, but no one is wearing gray hats. There is no one in between.