Newspaper releases Castro’s 80th birthday pics

HAVANA – Cuban leader Fidel Castro said on his 80th birthday yesterday that he had improved “considerably” since being sidelined by surgery, but added a full recovery would take quite a while longer.

His remarks in a newspaper article were accompanied by the first pictures of the ailing leader taken since last month’s operation, with Castro quoted as saying, “I’m very happy.” Castro told the state-run Juventud Rebelde newspaper it “would not be a lie” to say that his physical condition had improved, but added that “to say that the recovery time will be brief, and that there is no risk would be absolutely incorrect.”Four photos of the ailing leader accompanied his remarks.Castro urged Cubans to be “optimistic, but at the same time ready to confront any negative news.”He also thanked the Cuban people for their “loving support” during his convalescence.Castro was photographed wearing a red-white-and-blue tracksuit jacket rather than his customary khaki fatigues.Two of the pictures show him speaking on the telephone.Another has him holding a newspaper with his own picture on the front page.”I tell all those who wished me good health that I will fight for it,” the paper quoted Castro as saying.Castro has not been seen in public since before July 31, when a news anchor read a statement saying he had temporarily ceded power, for the first time since seizing power in 1959, to his brother, Defence Minister Raul Castro, following intestinal surgery.The Cuban state press said earlier that Castro was now walking and in good spirits, even if closer details of his health were kept a state secret.Cuban officials have insisted regularly over the past week that life in the Americas’ only Communist country is “completely normal” as Castro recuperates, although neither he nor his brother have been seen in public.Immediately after his surgery, Castro had asked that his birthday celebration be postponed until December 2, the 50th anniversary of his return from exile in Mexico to topple US-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista.Yet the birthday bash went on.The regime that has been in place since Castro marched his bearded revolutionaries into Havana on New Year’s Day in 1959 desperately wants normality, and planned for yesterday’s birthday celebration include a nationwide “cane mobilisation,” recalling the earliest days of the revolution, when idealistic young men and women cut sugar cane for the good of all.Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was expected here later yesterday to give Castro his birthday greetings in person.Nampa-AFPCastro told the state-run Juventud Rebelde newspaper it “would not be a lie” to say that his physical condition had improved, but added that “to say that the recovery time will be brief, and that there is no risk would be absolutely incorrect.”Four photos of the ailing leader accompanied his remarks.Castro urged Cubans to be “optimistic, but at the same time ready to confront any negative news.”He also thanked the Cuban people for their “loving support” during his convalescence.Castro was photographed wearing a red-white-and-blue tracksuit jacket rather than his customary khaki fatigues.Two of the pictures show him speaking on the telephone.Another has him holding a newspaper with his own picture on the front page.”I tell all those who wished me good health that I will fight for it,” the paper quoted Castro as saying.Castro has not been seen in public since before July 31, when a news anchor read a statement saying he had temporarily ceded power, for the first time since seizing power in 1959, to his brother, Defence Minister Raul Castro, following intestinal surgery.The Cuban state press said earlier that Castro was now walking and in good spirits, even if closer details of his health were kept a state secret.Cuban officials have insisted regularly over the past week that life in the Americas’ only Communist country is “completely normal” as Castro recuperates, although neither he nor his brother have been seen in public.Immediately after his surgery, Castro had asked that his birthday celebration be postponed until December 2, the 50th anniversary of his return from exile in Mexico to topple US-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista.Yet the birthday bash went on.The regime that has been in place since Castro marched his bearded revolutionaries into Havana on New Year’s Day in 1959 desperately wants normality, and planned for yesterday’s birthday celebration include a nationwide “cane mobilisation,” recalling the earliest days of the revolution, when idealistic young men and women cut sugar cane for the good of all.Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was expected here later yesterday to give Castro his birthday greetings in person.Nampa-AFP