By ANITA SNOW
Associated Press
Posted April 21 2007, 10:52 AM EDT
HAVANA -- Photographs of Fidel Castro meeting with the head of a
visiting Chinese Communist Party delegation were published Saturday in
Cuba's party newspaper in the latest sign the Cuban leader is becoming
increasingly active more than eight months after undergoing emergency
intestinal surgery.
The Communist Party daily Granma reported that Wu Guanzheng, a member of
the Chinese Communist Party's Politiburo, met separately Friday with
both Castro and his younger brother Raul, who has been filling in for
his brother since July.
A short message about the encounter was first read Friday night on state
television and carried on official news services, but the new images of
Castro were not released until Saturday.
In two photographs published on Granma's Web site, Castro is seen
dressed in a brown and red track suit with white detailing as he meets
with Wu. In one, he sits in a rocking chair across from Wu with another
member of the Chinese delegation between them, apparently taking notes
on the meeting. In a second, the two men are standing and shaking hands.
While he looks somewhat pale after months indoors, the 80-year-old
appears much stronger than the early images of him last fall, dressed in
red pajamas and resting in bed while visiting with his ally Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez.
Fidel Castro's condition and exact ailment remain state secrets, but he
is believed to suffer from diverticular disease, which can cause
inflammation and bleeding in the colon.
Castro has not been seen in public since before July 31, when he
announced he had undergone surgery and was provisionally ceding power to
his brother while he recovered. Since then, he has been seen only in
photographs and videos released by the government, initially looking
thin and weak but more recently appearing stronger.
Cuban officials have been giving increasingly positive reports about
Castro's recovery, sparking expectations that the he will make a public
appearance soon, perhaps at the annual May 1 workers parade that draws
hundreds of thousands of people.
In recent weeks, he has written three editorials published in official
media under the title "Reflections of the Commander in Chief,'' two
about his opposition to the use of food crops for the production of
ethanol for cars, and another accusing the U.S. government of protecting
his old nemesis Luis Posada Carriles, a Cuban-born anti-communist
militant who was released this week from American custody while he
awaits trial on immigration fraud charges.
Cuba and Venezuela accuse him of violent acts against the island,
including the 1976 bombing of a Cubana de Aviacion airliner that killed
73 people -- something Posada denies.
After meeting for an hour with Fidel Castro and delivering a letter from
Chinese President Hu Jintao, Wu met with Raul Castro to discuss economic
and other issues, Granma said.
Trade between the two communist countries has burgeoned in recent years,
growing to US$1.8 billion (euro1.4 billion) last year, double that of
2005, according to Chinese officials in Cuba. Chinese exports of buses,
locomotives and farm equipment and supplies to Cuba helped account for
the sharp increase.
After his stop in Cuba, Wu heads next to Colombia and Chile.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/cuba/sfl-0421castro,0,3547087.story?coll=sfla-news-cuba
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