Published on Monday, April 16, 2007
CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP): Venezuela's president fed speculation that
Cuban leader Fidel Castro might return to power soon, stating that his
ailing friend has informally taken back many duties and has nearly fully
recovered.
Leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has become Castro's top
ally, gave an upbeat assessment of the veteran leader's recovery from
gastrointestinal surgery that sidelined him for the first time in July.
"Fidel has nearly completely recovered," said Chavez, who has become a
sort of spokesman on Castro's health, told a news conference.
"He has taken back a good part of government functions, but, of course,
not formally," he said, adding he had met last week with Castro
"emissaries" who had given him a written note from the Cuban leader.
"The information that keeps emerging, his notes, his voice on the
telephone, show a marked improvement (in his health)," said Chavez, who
has visited his friend recovering in Cuba several times. He added that
he could not say more.
Castro, 80, handed power on a temporary basis to his brother and defense
Chief Raul, 75, on July 31, four days after undergoing surgery.
He has only been seen in videos and pictures since then, but has
published in the past two weeks three articles in Cuba's official daily
Granma railing against US President George W. Bush, in a sign that he is
still following current events.
It is the first time that the Communist stalwart has given up the reins
of government since his guerrilla revolution toppled the government of
Dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959.
Cuban officials and Chavez have given steady updates on Castro's health
in recent months, hinting that he is set for a comeback, and defying
predictions by his arch-nemesis, the United States, that his death was
close.
Castro's other top ally in Latin America, Bolivian President Evo
Morales, had suggested that the Cuban leader would make his first public
appearance since surgery at a four-nation cooperation group's summit in
Havana later this month.
But Morales's prediction was thrown into doubt as the Venezuelan
ambassador to Cuba, Ali Rodriguez, said the meeting of the Bolivarian
Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) would take place in Caracas instead
on April 27-29.
"What President Evo Morales expressed is the desire that we all share,
and we hope that is the case," Rodriguez said.
"We want to see him in good health again because he has been one of the
inspirational souls of the ALBA process and the integration process," he
said.
ALBA is a Cuban-Venezuelan initiative including Bolivia and Nicaragua
that was launched last year as an alternative to the US-backed Free
Trade Area of the Americas.
In another update on Castro's recovery, Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe
Perez Roque said his boss was putting on weight, exercising, keeping
himself informed on world affairs and taking part in the decision-making
process.
"The health of President Fidel Castro has improved notably," said Perez
Roque during a three-day visit to Vietnam, Cuba's Communist ally. "He is
improving continually and substantially."
Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage said Castro's recent articles,
criticizing Bush's biofuel policies and the conditional release by a US
judge of an anti-Castro militant held on immigration charges, shows he
is still a force.
"From his recovery process, he is capable of mobilizing the world with
thoughts of such importance and so transcendent like the ones he just
had," Lage said.
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