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The visit to Fidel came about in part because of the historic nature of this caravan, being the twentieth Pastors for Peace caravan and occurring during the fiftieth year of the Cuban Revolution.  The coincidence of those two anniversaries led to an invitation to Lucius and two others to attend the official celebration of Cuba's national holiday on July 26th, which marks the starting date of the Revolution.  The celebration moves to a different location each year; this year it was in Holguin in the eastern part of Cuba-a two-hour flight from Havana.

At the national celebration, in keeping with tradition, there was a presidential address by current President Raul Castro.  The rest of us, who were not invited to Holguin, watched the speech on national television.  In his speech Raul recognized the work of Pastors for Peace and the current presence in Cuba of the caravan number twenty.  As he spoke those words the camera zoomed in on Lucius, who was standing in the front row close to the podium, highly visible in his red caravan t-shirt.

After the speech Raul invited Lucius to fly back to Havana with him on his presidential jet.  Lucius accepted and spent about four hours with Raul, discussing the future of Cuba and the future of US/Cuba relations.  As he was leaving, Lucius asked Raul to give his greetings to his brother Fidel.  Raul replied that he would arrange for Lucius to do that in person, and two days later the meeting with Fidel was held.

Lucius and Fidel have a friendship that goes back more than fifteen years.  They have met several times, but this is the first time they have met since Fidel stepped down from the presidency for health reasons.

The fact that Pastors for Peace was chosen to release the first photos of Fidel in the last six months shows the high regard the Cuban leadership has for the organization.