A healthy-looking Cuban President Fidel Castro hinted in his first interview in 10 months that his recovery was still incomplete, leaving unanswered the big question of when he might return to power.
Castro, 80, who underwent surgery last July, appeared relaxed as he sat dressed in a red, white and blue tracksuit chatting with an interviewer on state-controlled Cuban TV.
"A human being's health is always facing threats, lurking dangers, but we've been doing all the things that needed to be done," Castro said in Tuesday's interview.
PHOTO: AP
"All I can tell my fellow countrymen is what I've already said, that I'm now doing what I have to do, nothing else. There's no secret. I can't put it more clearly," he said.
Castro underwent gastrointestinal surgery and handed over power to his brother Raul on July 31.
The veteran leader, who turns 81 in August, said his health was being monitored closely, even by the US.
"They can check out anybody coming into the house with their satellites," Castro said.
"There's no state secret," he insisted, adding that he was eating "a much more balanced" diet.
A day after handing over power to his brother, Castro had said his health was a "state secret," triggering months of rumors about his return to power and Cuba's possible transition to a more open society.
Earlier this week, official media said Castro's interview would offer "other issues of interest," fueling speculation that he could announce his return to power.
However, Castro left unanswered the question on the mind of every Cuban, including exiles in Florida, letting lingering doubts persist about his plans for the future.
US Spanish-speaking television stations that were broadcasting Castro's interview live, broke off a half hour into the program after it became apparent the leadership question would not be addressed.
Some Cubans, however, saw his appearance as a sign that Castro was getting back to his old self.
"Ave Maria! He looks good. He's stronger and livelier," said Merida Noa, 79, who watched the 52-minute interview with her sister Sinesia, 83, in Old Havana.
"We hadn't seen him like this since the crisis began," she said. "Now we can say that there is a commander for a while."
"He is mentally fit, loquacious and coherent," said Ignacio Iglesias, 68, who watched the broadcast in a neighbor's home. "He looks stronger physically and it makes me very happy."
US physicians who watched the interview from Miami said Castro appeared to have recovered from the operation.
Castro was pale and his voice hoarse, "as though he had endured for some time the insertion of a breathing tube," said Javier Parra of the University of Miami medical school.
"However, he has recovered, which is characteristic of that," he said.
The pre-recorded interview with "Roundtable" anchorman Randy Alonso, Castro's first since he dropped from public view, dealt mainly with the hospital visit last weekend by Vietnamese Communist Party leader Nong Duc Manh.
The Cuban leader, who has not appeared in public since last July, has only been seen in photographs and short videos and heard on the radio.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS