PRIVATE EYES Watch out, celebrity Hollywood guests of Cuba, Castro sees your every move

It's a wonder Cuba's longtime leader doesn't have beach front property in the Malibu colony, so beloved is he by the rich and famous. Jack Nicholson has called him a genius. Naomi Campbell said she was nervous and flustered meeting the man she called, "a source of inspiration to the world." And why not? El Commandante has always had the winning formula for their approval. He's an emblematic, larger-than-life trendsetter with a mangy beard, worn-out army fatigue jacket, and Montecristo cigars (though he has said he quit the habit back in the '80s). He's also a literary buff who has not only hobnobbed with scribes like Ernest Hemingway and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, but has even written his own book reviews for magazines. Like many celebrities he keeps odd hours (he is known to sleep just a few hours a night), eats mostly vegetarian, and has admitted to bedding over a thousand women.

According to one journalist, however, details indicate that when it
comes to his well-known visitors, the commander likes to watch—via hidden surveillance devices, that is. Among those allegedly caught on tape were Nicholson and Campbell, whose purported Cuban sabbatical with her travel companions, Kate Moss and Leonardo DiCaprio, was rumored to cause intelligence services to up the surveillance level to "priority." When Castro attempted to blackmail director Pedro Almodóvar, testified a former Cuban intelligence officer, the Spaniard was nonplussed, adding that everyone already knew he was a "maricón."

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