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Fidel
Castro, at 80, may be the next comeback kid |
By Isabel Sanchez
March 15, 2007 - HAVANA, Cuba (AFP): Cuban leader Fidel
Castro, sidelined by intestinal surgery almost eight months
ago, is now recovering at a faster pace, taking part in
daily government affairs, and fueling talk he may return to
the helm of Cuba's communist government soon.
"The pace of his recovery process has picked up. We are all
expecting it to be completed shortly," Vice President Jose
Ramon Fernandez told reporters.
Still, Fernandez said, "it is clear that after a lengthy
illness one has to rest and take precautions and factor in
the absolutely overwhelming dedication he always gives his
work, hours and hours, and days without rest; and we have to
protect him from that."
Castro, 80, underwent intestinal surgery and then on July 31
temporarily handed the reins of government to his brother
Raul Castro, 75, the defense chief and regime's number two.
The Cuban government has given very little detail on Fidel
Castro's health, which it considers a state secret.
For a few months Cuban officials sounded cautiously
optimistic; then for a few months, less-than-optimistic.
US intelligence officials from Cuba's arch-enemy the United
States said it looked as if he would not be long for this
world.
Now, Cuban authorities again sound convinced that the man
who has led Cuba for more than four decades may well make it
back on the job.
And signs of the old Fidel have been starting to emerge.
Monday, Fidel Castro was on the phone to Haiti's capital "in
talks on a cooperation agreement between Cuba, Venezuela and
Haiti," Haitian President Rene Preval said after signing the
deal with visiting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez,
Castro's closest ally, and Cuban vice president Esteban Lazo.
Chavez said Fidel Castro took part by telephone "to
consolidate a great stride in trilateral cooperation."
Monday, close Castro associate Felipe Perez Roque told
reporters in Paris that Fidel Castro "is improving
noticeably" and is more involved in daily government
business.
So Cuba's enemies "are going to have to wait," warned Perez
Roque.
"He is in direct contact with leaders of the (Cuban
Communist) Party and the Government, we consult with him on
various issues, and he increasingly is taking part in the
work," said Perez Roque, on a European trip.
Foreign analysts and diplomats in Havana however say that
while Fidel Castro may be faring better, no one should
expect the famously longwinded orator and man of few hours
sleep to work like he used to work.
He may become an active, symbolic face of the Americas' only
communist government, while delegating much of the work he
used to do himself.
National Assembly speaker Ricardo Alarcon told Argentina's
Clarin daily that Fidel Castro had not left power, but
stopped doing things the way he used to do them.
"Those long speeches, being at every ceremony, being on top
of each and every issue. Well, that is just not normal. ...
Will he return to doing things like before? That's something
else."
Reviewing a military drill in Pinar del Rio province,
interim president Raul Castro said Sunday that Fidel Castro
had had a "progressive recovery."
Two weeks ago, Fidel Castro appeared in his first live
broadcast in months, by phone with Chavez on his radio and
TV program, sparking hope among supporters and dismay among
Castro's foes. He sounded more at ease, coherent and
stronger than in prior taped footage.
Fidel Castro's eldest son, Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, said
February 16 that his father would make a full recovery.
"Both his character and body; we are going to have him back
soon," insisted a 67-year-old retiree who lives in the
Havana neighborhood of Miramar, with a smile. |
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