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| A screenshot of Cuba's website Cubadebate shows ten photos of Fidel Castro on their opening page in Havana, Cuba, Tuesday Feb. 3, 2015. Cuba has published the first photos of Fidel Castro in five months, showing the 88-year-old former leader engaged in conversation with the head of the main Cuban student union. A first-person account by student leader Randy Perdomo Garcia says the meeting took place on Jan. 23. The photos published around midnight on Monday are the first images of the revolutionary leader since a set of photos came out in August showing him talking with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. |
HAVANA (AP)
-- Cuba has published the first photos of Fidel Castro in more than five
months, showing the 88-year-old former leader engaged in what appears
to be a lively conversation with a university student.
Nearly
two dozen images were published virtually simultaneously on the
websites of Cuba's main state media outlets around midnight Monday. In
them, Castro is seated and discussing current events with the head of
the main Cuban student union. A first-person account by student leader
Randy Perdomo Garcia says the meeting took place on Jan. 23.
The
photos are the first images of the revolutionary leader since a set of
photos came out in August showing him talking with Venezuelan President
Nicolas Maduro.
Perdomo said that he and
Castro met for more than three hours in the former leader's house after
an event celebrating the 70th anniversary of Castro starting his studies
at the University of Havana.
The student
leader said Castro said that he is keeping abreast of the news and
performing daily exercises, and he engaged Perdomo in a wide-ranging
discussion of topics including international politics, agriculture,
astronomy, and even Namibia's donation of animals to Cuba's National
Zoo.
Perdomo said the two men discussed the
release of three Cuban intelligence agents as part of the Dec. 17
declaration by Cuba and the United States that they would move to
re-establish full diplomatic relations. The photos show Castro examining
a newspaper report on their release.
"He's
full of life, he keeps up his exercises and he reads closely," Perdomo
told The Associated Press on Tuesday. He said that Castro rose from his
seat without help, read several articles without help and remembered
details of past events with astonishing recall.
Castro
did not issue a public statement for nearly a month after the
announcement that Cuba and the U.S. were moving to re-establish full
diplomatic relations. Castro's public appearances and statements have
become increasingly infrequent since he stepped down from duties as
president after a serious illness in 2006 and handed over leadership to
his younger brother Raul. His unusually lengthy silence after the Dec.
17 announcement sparked intense speculation about his health.
