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Cuban state television has aired the first images of Fidel Castro in three months, showing him frail but stronger as he met the Venezuelan president, Hugo
Chávez.
Almost six months to the day after he temporarily handed over power to his brother Raul following emergency intestinal surgery, Mr Castro stood, appeared alert and drank orange juice in the 10-minute video clip aired yesterday.
"As I have said, this is far from being a lost battle," he told Mr
Chávez.
The video was shot during the Venezuelan leader's previously unannounced visit to Havana on Monday, state television said.
It showed Mr Castro dressed in the red, white and blue tracksuit of the Cuban Olympic team and explaining that when his intestinal problems struck last year he had still not fully recovered from a serious fall in October 2004 that severely injured a knee and a shoulder.
"One after the other," he said of his health troubles.
Mr Chávez was even more optimistic later in the video, saying his friend had already won the battle to recover his health.
Cubans watching the video in cafes and restaurants in Old Havana said the images reassured them about their leader's health.
"He looks a lot better now," said 28-year-old law student Nicolas Fernandez, who predicted Castro would live another 12 years. "I think it was a positive video. He's well, strong of mind and body."
The date of the video's shooting could not be independently confirmed, but Mr Castro read aloud a headline from a printout of an article dated January 27 from the internet version of the Argentinian newspaper
Clarin.
The new images appear to counter recent rumours about Mr Castro's health, including a report in the Spanish newspaper El País earlier this month that said he was in "very grave" condition.
Cuban officials told visiting US politicians last month that Mr Castro does not have cancer or a terminal illness and will eventually return to public life, although it was not clear whether he would return to the same kind of absolute control as before.
Mr Castro, who led an armed revolution that drove out dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959, had ruled Cuba for almost 48 years when he shocked the nation on by temporarily ceding power on July 31. He was last seen in public five days earlier.
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