A Cuban newspaper Sunday published the first photographs of
Fidel Castro since his stomach surgery, and the Cuban leader said
he had stabilized "considerably."
He sent a message to Cubans on his 80th birthday that was
published by youth daily Juventud Rebelde with four
waist-up photographs of him wearing a tracksuit and speaking on the
telephone, apparently sitting in a chair.
Castro has not appeared in public since ceding power to his
younger brother Raul Castro on July 31 after undergoing an
operation to stop intestinal bleeding.
One photograph showed Castro holding a supplement on him printed
on Saturday by the Communist Party newspaper Granma, an
apparent move to show the pictures were current.
"To say the stability has improved considerably is not to tell a
lie. To say that the period of recovery will be short and there is
now no risk, would be absolutely incorrect," Castro said in the
message posted on the newspaper's website.
"The country is running well and will continue to do so," the
man who has led Cuba for 47 years assured his people.
"I tell all those who wished me good health that I will fight
for it," the paper quoted Castro as saying.
The Cuban state press said earlier that Castro was now walking
and in good spirits.
An unidentified "friend" told Cuba's Granma newspaper in an
article published on Saturday that Castro was taking a few steps
after physical therapy and conversing "animatedly."
"He's as strong as the caguairan," the Granma headline
read, referring to a particularly sturdy tropical hardwood tree
that grows in Cuba.
"Like the tree emblematic of Cuba, he is upright, strong (and)
tough, ideal for building lasting works. Our friend saw El
Comandante walking about, like someone looking forward to new
victories," Granma wrote.
While Castro's condition appears to be stable, it is not known
whether he will be able to resume his government duties.
Cuban officials have said the workaholic Castro, whose
intestinal bleeding was caused by overexertion, will have to lessen
his workload if he is to recover.
Some 3,000 mainly young Cubans wished Castro happy birthday at
midnight Saturday during a five-hour concert in his honour on the
"Anti-Imperialist Stage" opposite the US diplomatic mission on
Havana's Malecon seafront boulevard.
Singer-songwriter Amaury Perez orchestrated the soiree, which
also featured musicians Frank Fernandez, Rosita Fornes and Kiki
Korona, as well as the groups Hipnosis, Karma and Eddy K.
"We hope he gets better. For all oppressed people, Cuba is an
example that socialism is possible," said Juan Carlos Cruz, a
Bolivian studying medicine in Cuba for free. Students bused to the
show held Cuban, Venezuelan and Bolivian flags.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was expected in Havana Sunday
to give Castro his birthday greetings in person.
Cuban officials have insisted regularly over the past week that
life in the Americas' only Communist country is "completely normal"
as Castro recuperates, although neither he nor his brother have
been seen in public.
(China Daily August 14, 2006)
