Raul Castro, 96-year-old former US ambassador and Arizona governor, detained at Border Patrol [View all]

[Douglas Carpenter]

By James Eng, msnbc.com


Castro was governor of Arizona from 1975-77 before serving as U.S. ambassador to Argentina from 1977-80 under President Jimmy Carter. He was U.S. ambassador to El Salvador from 1964-68 and U.S. ambassador to Bolivia from 1968-69 under Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon.

A 96-year-old former Arizona governor and former U.S. diplomat says he holds no grudges against the U.S. Border Patrol agents who he says detained him at a checkpoint for more than a half-hour in stifling heat after his pacemaker apparently set off a radiation sensor.

Raul H. Castro says although he wasn’t mistreated, agents could have been more sensitive to his age and condition.

“I feel they’ve got a job to do and I don’t condemn them for doing a job,” he told msnbc.com on Thursday, “but once I was identified and I was 96 years of age and told them I had medical treatment the day before, I expected a little more.”

A friend who was driving the former governor at the time wasn’t so forgiving. Anne Doan, who teaches as the University of Arizona, called the treatment of Castro “humiliating” and “absolutely ridiculous.”

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/05/12582496-raul-castro-96-year-old-former-us-ambassador-and-arizona-governor-detained-at-border-patrol-checkpoint?lite