Cuba publishes new photos of Fidel Castro to silence health rumours
Cuban state media released the first photographs of former president Fidel Castro to be published in nearly six months last night in a bid to quiet rumours that his health is failing.
Cuban state media released the first photographs of former president Fidel Castro to be published in nearly six months last night in a bid to quiet rumours that his health is failing.
The images showed the 88-year-old Castro at his home along with his wife Dalia during a meeting with the leader of a students’ union, and were published in the state-run newspaper Granma and other official media.
The article accompanying the photos said the meeting took place January 23.
Castro looks slightly hunched over while seated, but appearing animated as he spoke with a student leader named Randy Perdomo.
Granma published 21 pictures of the two men talking, with Castro in various poses of engaged conversation, viewing a video and flipping through a newspaper.
A Brazilian theologian who met Castro last week said the former leader was in good health, appearing skinny but lucid.
The images come after weeks of feverish speculation concerning the Cuban revolutionary leader’s medical condition after he appeared to disappear from the public eye.
The last time he was seen in public was January 8, last year, when he attended an art gallery opening near his home.
Swirling rumours of Castro’s demise have cropped up often since he stepped down from office during a health crisis in 2006.
Raul Castro, the longtime armed forces chief, took his brother’s place at Cuba’s helm.
Raul Castro and US President Barack Obama announced on December 17 that the two countries - longtime adversaries - would restore diplomatic ties.
Fidel Castro, who periodically writes a column, went silent after the announcement until finally commenting a week ago, when he offered lukewarm support for the pact his brother reached with Obama.
Castro stepped down from power due to poor health, handing over to his brother provisionally in 2006 and definitively in 2008.
Though he receives visitors, he has not appeared in public for more than a year.
