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 News from Around the Americas | August 2006 
New Photos Show Chavez Visit with Castro
 Anita Snow - Associated Press
| | In this photo released by Cuba's Communist daily newspaper Granma, Cuba's leader Fidel Castro, right, is seen along with Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez in Havana, Sunday, Aug. 13, 2006. Chavez's visit came the same day that Castro issued a statement to the Cuban people, warning them that he faces a long and difficult recovery after his surgery. (AP Photo/Granma) |
Cuba's Communist daily published new photographs of ailing leader Fidel Castro on Monday, showing him in bed on his 80th birthday during a visit with his brother Raul and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
The official Granma newspaper posted the six photographs on its online edition, one day after the Communist Youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde published the first images of Castro since the Cuban leader announced two weeks ago he had undergone intestinal surgery and was temporarily ceding power to Raul, the defense minister and No. 2 in the government.
Chavez's visit came the same day Castro sent a message to the Cuban people, warning them that he faces a long and difficult recovery after his surgery.
In all of the most recent pictures, Castro is in bed, wearing what looks like a red sweatshirt. In a seventh photograph, Raul Castro is shown embracing Chavez when he arrived in Havana on Sunday. It was the younger Castro's debut appearance as acting Cuban president.
"An Unforgettable Afternoon Among Brothers," Granma said of the afternoon visit by Chavez, who is Castro's closest friend and political ally in Latin America.
The lead photo shows Chavez and Raul Castro standing at Fidel's bedside — all three smiling — next to a large portrait of the Cuban leader on an easel. The newspaper said Raul Castro gave Chavez the portrait, which formerly hung in his office and was painted in 1959 by famed Mexican artist David Alfaro Siqueiros.
Castro and Chavez shared "more than three hours of emotional exchange, anecdotes, laughs, photos, gifts, a frugal snack and the happiness of close friendship," Granma said.
The newspaper quoting Chavez as saying, "This is the best visit I've ever had in my life." Expressing surprise at his recovery, Chavez reportedly commented: "What kind of human being is this? What material is it made of?"
"It is, as you people say, made of caguairin," Chavez reportedly said, using the name of the tropical hardwood tree that Granma has used to describe Castro in recent days.
The images indicate real affection between the men, with them smiling at each other, clasping hands and in one, drinking what looks like a milkshake. Cuban officials have not disclosed where Castro is being treated.
It was the first report in Cuban media about the visit. Venezuela's state news service ABN reported Sunday that Chavez gave Castro a dagger and a coffee cup that had belonged to South American independence fighter Simon Bolivar.
One of the pictures in Granma showed Castro holding the dagger.
Castro has not been seen publicly since July 26, five days before the announcement that he was stepping aside as president to recover from surgery for an unspecified intestinal ailment.
The Communist Youth newspaper on Sunday ran a statement in which Castro said his health had improved but that he still faces risks.
"To affirm that the recovery period will take a short time and that there is no risk would be absolutely incorrect," the statement said. "I ask you all to be optimistic, and at the same time to be ready to face any adverse news."
Two photographs on Sunday showed Castro talking on the phone, wearing a red, white and blue Adidas warm-up jacket — the colors of the Cuban flag. In another image he's shown holding up a special birthday supplement included in the Saturday edition of the state newspaper.
The photographs in both newspapers were credited to Estudios Revolucion, a division of Castro's personal support group that collects historic documents and images.
The pictures seemed designed to prove he was recovering from his surgery.
News of Castro's illness made Cubans uneasy about the future, but a series of upbeat statements from government officials have helped calm a public facing up to the mortality of the island's longtime leader.
"What happiness I received!" exclaimed resident Margot Gomez after seeing Sunday's newspaper during a morning walk in Havana. "Long live Fidel and long live the revolution! He knows what to do to convert setbacks into victories!"
Sunday was also the first day that Raul Castro had made a public appearance since his brother put him in temporarily in charge on July 31.
Raul, 75, has always been in his brother's shadow, even as he battled the government of Fulgencio Batista in the 1950s and helped launch the Cuban revolution. He is currently the island's defense minister, and is set to rule Cuba permanently if his brother passes away or fails to regain enough strength to govern.
Birthday articles in state-run newspapers extolled his virtues, and dozens of children in an Old Havana neighborhood celebrated his birthday with games and a cake that read "Always With You Fidel." The boys and girls cheered and shouted "Long live Fidel!" after singing "Happy Birthday" for the Cuban leader.
"We wish him much happiness and that he gets well soon!" said a little girl in the group, named Maria Julia Rodriguez.
Bolivian president Evo Morales on Sunday led about a thousand peasants in singing "Happy Birthday" to Castro outside a hospital in Bolivia staffed by Cuban doctors. "We will always be together. Long live Fidel, Long live Cuba!" said Morales, who vowed to bring Castro a cake made of coca flour in December.
On the Net: Granma: http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/
Juventud Rebelde: http://www.juventudrebelde.cu
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