please join me in welcoming tony paraty. >> [ applause ] >> hey, everybody. thank you for coming out on such a beautiful spring night. to celebrate the secrets of the given revolution. you may be wondering about my funny accent. writing about cuba. and the reason, i was in argentina and if you live in latin america you do is latin america and everyone is thinking about cuba. in that sense, i felt like i really had to go. i finally did in 1996 just after the soviet union had collapse. it was an economic disaster. i got down there from new york because you couldn't fly direct. i went via and also. i had to take $1000 in cash and give it to a guy named lionel at the airport. i did get to the airport and went into it terminal and lionel did appear and i gave him the money and he gave me a handwritten thing and pointed out the prop plane. six people squeeze on to this plane and then went over the caribbean and landed in cuba. it was an experience. the next time i went was under the obama years. i got invited on the first private jet to fly from miami to hove on a.