People

By Guy D. Garcia

It has raised Communist eyebrows in Havana and furnished gossip items for the capitalist press. But the deal is apparently in the works: Fidel Castro, 59, will reportedly receive $2.5 million from the U.S. publisher Simon & Schuster for three books. The first volume would include his 1979 speeches to the United Nations and his views on Latin America's debt, the second his thoughts on religion and Marxism, and the third his memoirs. Questions remain, however, about whether el jefe maximo will ever receive his fee. Last November the Treasury Department issued a license to Simon & Schuster allowing it to sign a contract with Castro as long as all payments go to a blocked account in the U.S., meaning the money cannot be transferred to any other country. For its part, Simon & Schuster is hardly worried about Castro's ability to fill three books. The Cuban leader has already generated more text in speeches and interviews than Joseph Stalin, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill combined.