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'Here I am', says Castro
22/09/2007 08:01 - (SA)
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| Castro gestures during the interview. (Cubavision via AP Television News, AP) |
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Havana - Fidel Castro looked alert and healthier during an hour-long interview taped and aired on Cuban television on Friday, responding to rumours of his death with a defiant "here I am."
In the first video of the ailing 81-year-old revolutionary seen in more than three months, a pale Castro stayed seated the entire time, spoke slowly and softly and didn't always look the interviewer in the eye. But he appeared to be thinking clearly.
The Cuban leader said he thought the Bush administration could go to war with Iran and bemoaned the high cost of the war in Iraq, but provided no new details about his health, except to say, "Well, here I am."
He mocked rumours of his death that have circulated in Miami and elsewhere in the United States.
"They say 'I was dying' and 'if I die' and 'I will die the day after tomorrow' or something," Casto said. "Nobody knows the day they are going to die."
Castro was forced to cede power to a provisional government headed by his younger brother Raul in July 2006 following emergency intestinal surgery. He has not appeared in public since.
Slow start
Early on in the interview, Castro often trailed off mid-sentence, and needed some prompting by the interviewer. He had bags under his eyes, sunken cheeks and his thin grey beard looked as wispy as ever. But he appeared to get stronger and more comfortable as time passed.
The Cuban leader wore a red, blue and white jumpsuit with "F Castro" in small block letters.
"They criticise me" for wearing the tracksuit, Castro joked. But he said he was "not looking for anything elegant."
Arnaldo Fuster, who watched the Castro interview with his wife and children in his old Havana home, said he thought the Cuban leader looked better.
"He's whole. He's better, I think, than ever," Fuster said. "He's old, but he's whole. His memory is normal, he looks normal."
Cuban officials broke into regularly scheduled programming on state television only minutes before the video was broadcast to announce that a "conversation" with Castro would be shown. They said the interview was taped on Friday.
'State secrets'
Backing up the assertion, Castro mentioned recent prices of oil and the value of the euro against the dollar. He also discussed a wandering essay he signed that was published in state media on Wednesday.
"Yesterday the euro was at US$1.41. Oil I think about US$84 a barrel," Castro said.
He also held up a copy of the new book by former US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World. At one point he quoted from it, reading excerpted passages in very large type instead of using the book itself.
The island's leader also expressed worry that Washington's spending in Iraq could lead to economic catastrophe the world over and said a US attack on Iran is not just a threat but would will occur if Washington continues "on the road they are on at this minute."
Castro's condition and exact ailment are state secrets, though he wrote in one of his many essays that he had undergone multiple surgeries, at least one of which went poorly. He is recovering in an undisclosed location.
For months, official photographs and videos showed Castro's recovery, but no new images had surfaced since he appeared in an interview on Cuban television June 5.
- AP
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