21 February 2008, HONG KONG - Following the resignation of Fidel Castro as president of Cuba, National Geographic Channel will air special telecasts on "Castro", a two-hour special on Saturday, 23 February 2008 at 9.00 pm (HKG/SGP/MAL), with repeat telecasts on Sunday, 24 February 2008 at 1.00 am and 4.00 pm (HKG/SGP/MAL).

The two-hour documentary special unveils the mystery that is Fidel Castro. It explores the aims, psychology and appeal of the man by closely examining his actions and thoughts at pivot moments in history and provides insight into a man, a community, and the issues that are familiar to many beyond those directly affected by the life of Fidel Castro.

Mr Zubin Gandevia, Managing Director and Executive Vice President of National Geographic Channel Asia said, "National Geographic Channel continues to challenge and provide fresh insights into Fidel Castro. By presenting our viewers with the documentary special, we hope to broaden the understanding of what constitutes a significant part of the history of today."

About National Geographic Channels International

National Geographic Channels International (NGCI) invites viewers to re-think the way they see television - and the world - with smart, innovative programming. A business enterprise owned by National Geographic Television (NGT) and FOX Entertainment Group, NGCI contributes to the National Geographic Society's commitment to exploration, conservation and education through its five channels: National Geographic Channel, National Geographic Channel HD, Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo Adventure and Nat Geo Music.

Globally, National Geographic Channel (including NGC U.S. which is a joint venture of NGT and Fox Cable Networks Group) is available in 270 million homes in 166 countries and 34 languages.

For more information, press images and video, please contact:

National Geographic Channel Asia (Hong Kong)
Gorden Li
Tel: +852 2621 8893
Email: gordenli@ngcasia.com

National Geographic Channel Asia (Singapore/ Malaysia/ Indonesia)
Esther Ng
Tel: +65 6325 3821
Email: estherng@ngcasia.com

National Geographic Channel Asia (Thailand/ Philippines)
Richard Silaraks
Tel: +852 2621 8890
Email: rsilaraks@ngcasia.com

Notes to Editors:

Programme Synopsis of "Castro"

In September 1960, Fidel Castro, Prime Minister of Cuba, arrived in New York to address the United Nations. He took the city by storm. Thousands gathered outside his hotel, chanting "Fidel! Fidel!" as scores of reporters followed his every move and utterance. World leaders-President Nassar of Egypt, India's Nehru, Nikita Khruschev, Malcolm X-came to meet the head of a small Caribbean nation. Surrounded by admirers, Castro whispered to an associate: "I must be someone famous."

He was and would become even more so in the years to come. Fidel Castro's impact on the latter half of the twentieth century has been inordinate. In the United States, the Soviet Union, China, Latin America, even as far away as Africa, people from all walks of life either despise him as a dictator or lionize him as a champion of social justice and a more equitable world. In a two-hour documentary, the mystery that is Fidel Castro will be unveiled. His aims, psychology and appeal will be explored by closely examining his actions and thoughts at pivotal moments in history.

Through interviews with loyalists and enemies in Cuba and abroad; with relatives who have stood by him and those who have deserted him, like his daughter Alina, "Castro" will construct an intimate and revealing portrait of the one of the longest-serving leaders in the world. From his earliest political experiences, the seeds of both a great revolutionary and a great dictator were present; throughout his career, both blossomed. "Castro" will show how the triumphs and tragedies that Cubans experienced during the revolution played out in Castro's own life, and on the lives of his family, and throughout a divided Latin American continent.

The son of a wealthy Spanish immigrant who grew sugar cane for an American corporation, Fidel Castro led a successful revolt against dictatorship in Cuba in 1959. He sought and obtained absolute power, transforming his island nation into the first communist country in the Western Hemisphere.

By the force of his personality, his bold initiatives and the might of his Soviet benefactor, Castro raised himself and the island of Cuba to the status of a significant player in the world. Neither a victim of the United States nor a pawn of the Soviet Union, Castro steered his own, dangerous course during the Cold War. The Russians found him a difficult ally and privately referred to him as "the viper in our breast." But they stood by him, even risking a dangerous confrontation with the Americans during the Missile Crisis. Americans saw him as a personal affront, a challenge to their hegemony, and the spearhead of Communist expansion.

Castro became many things to many people. To revolutionaries worldwide he was the "guerrilla prince." Whether it was sending Ché Guevara to Bolivia with a small column of guerrilla fighters, or sending divisions to Angola, he was the one leader who sustained them through the best and worst of times. Leftist intellectuals in Europe and America initially welcomed his tropical brand of "socialism with a human face" as a timely rescue from the ideological ravages of Stalinism. To leaders of the emerging nations of the developing world he was David challenging the imperialist Goliath.

Castro has stayed in power for nearly four decades. He has survived the hostility of nine consecutive US Presidents and numerous world leaders, an invasion, several CIA assassination attempts, and an economic embargo. He has even managed to survive-by a hair's breadth-the collapse of the Soviet bloc. As Castro's rule inevitably approaches its end, his commitment to economic justice and his spirit of resistance are not in doubt, but his vision of an independent, self sufficient, and prosperous Cuba remains unrealized.

The writer and producer of "Castro" is Adriana Bosch, whose recent work includes major biographies for American Experience on Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter. Bosch, a Cuban American, wrote her doctoral thesis on contemporary Latin American politics while at Harvard University.