Acting Cuban President, Raul Castro said on Monday that Communist Party leaders support his brother Fidel's re-election to parliament, saying he is exercising two hours daily and gaining weight while keeping his mind healthy with reading and writing.
A seat in parliament is the first step in a process that would allow Fidel to retain his post atop the Council of State, Cuba's supreme governing body.
Communist Party leaders "defend him running again" Raul Castro said of his brother's candidacy for re-election to the Cuba's National Assembly, or parliament, on Jan. 20.
Last week, the 81-year-old Fidel Castro suggested he would not cling to power forever, nor stand in the way of a younger generation of politicians. He hinted at his political future for the first time since emergency intestinal surgery forced him to cede power to a "provisional" government headed by Raul in July last year.
But Raul indicated on Monday that Fidel was healthy enough to stand for re-election.
Through daily exercise, Fidel "has recovered a lot of weight and muscle mass," he said, speaking to voters in Fidel's district in the eastern city of Santiago, where the brothers spent part of their youth. He said Fidel asked him to visit voters in district visit because he was unable to.
In remarks carried on Cuban state TV on Monday evening, Raul said his brother "has more time, he's reading more than ever. He's meditating more than ever and writing almost more than ever."
"His powerful mind is healthier," the acting president said.
Speaking of Cuba's electoral system, Raul Castro noted that US democracy pits two identical parties against one another and joked that a choice between a Republican and Democrat is like choosing between himself and his brother Fidel.
"We could say in Cuba we have two parties: one led by Fidel and one led by Raul, what would be the difference?" he asked. "That's the same thing that happens in the United States ... both are the same. Fidel is a little taller than me, he has a beard and I don't."
The 76-year-old Raul scoffed at the notion Cuba needs to be more like the US. However, he also acknowledged that the island's communist government has its flaws, saying "our system has to become more democratized."
"I want to say this: If we only have one party that represents the interests of the people, where we can have differences, we should have them," he said. "Not class clashes, but it's good to have differences.''
Polish presidential candidates offered different visions of Poland and its relations with Ukraine in a televised debate ahead of next week’s run-off, which remains on a knife-edge. During a head-to-head debate lasting two hours, centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing pro-European coalition, faced the Eurosceptic historian Karol Nawrocki, backed by the right-wing populist Law and Justice party (PiS). The two candidates, who qualified for the second round after coming in the top two places in the first vote on Sunday last week, clashed over Poland’s relations with Ukraine, EU policy and the track records of their
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
‘A THREAT’: Guyanese President Irfan Ali called on Venezuela to follow international court rulings over the region, whose border Guyana says was ratified back in 1899 Misael Zapara said he would vote in Venezuela’s first elections yesterday for the territory of Essequibo, despite living more than 100km away from the oil-rich Guyana-administered region. Both countries lay claim to Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens. Guyana has administered the region for decades. The centuries-old dispute has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered massive offshore oil deposits a decade ago, giving Guyana the largest crude oil reserves per capita in the world. Venezuela would elect a governor, eight National Assembly deputies and regional councilors in a newly created constituency for the 160,000
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person