The Associated Press
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
HAVANA: Fidel Castro said Wednesday that he was not yet healthy enough
to speak to Cuba's masses in person and could not campaign for
parliamentary elections on Sunday.
"I am not physically able to speak directly to the citizens of the
municipality where I was nominated for our elections next Sunday,"
Castro, 81, wrote in an essay published Wednesday by state news media.
Castro's latest essay was dominated by a harsh assessment of President
George W. Bush, but it also included references to the Cuban leader's
health.
The essay was published on the front pages of state-run newspapers a day
after Castro met for more than two hours with President Luiz Inácio Lula
da Silva of Brazil.
Da Silva said Castro appeared to him to be healthy enough to return to
politics. "I think Fidel is ready to take over his historic political
role in this globalized world, in humanity," da Silva said as he left
Cuba Tuesday.
Photographs of the meeting were given to reporters Tuesday as da Silva
departed after a 24-hour visit. They were the first pictures of Castro
since October, when he met his friend Hugo Chávez, president of Venezuela.
Castro has not been seen in public since July 2006, when emergency
intestinal surgery forced him to cede power to a provisional government
headed by his younger brother, Rául, five years his junior.
"My feeling is that Fidel is in very good health, that he's as lucid as
he's ever been," da Silva said.
Castro expressed frustration in his essay: "I do what I can: I write.
For me, this is a new experience: Writing is not the same as speaking."
Castro remains head of the Council of State. Re-election to the National
Assembly is a necessary step if he is to continue to run the council.
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