Venezuela's Chavez says Fidel Castro appears in Havana

[WriteDown]

Source: IHT

CARACAS: Cuba's ailing former leader Fidel Castro, not seen in public for years, appeared on the streets of Havana and people cried when they recognized him, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Friday.

Chavez, a close friend of the legendary revolutionary, spent several hours with Castro in Cuba last weekend and said he was in his best health since falling ill three years ago.

"Fidel went out and they saw him, Fidel walking in the streets in Havana, a miracle, the people cried," Chavez said during a service to commemorate a massacre in Venezuela,

"Of course he planned it so there would be no record of it. But there are some photos I have seen. I consider myself privileged," Chavez said. He did not say when Castro went out on the streets.....

Read more: http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2009/02/27/america/OUKWD-UK-CUBA-CASTRO.php

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You'll be able to knock me over with a feather if this is true. I'll await the photos.

[EFerrari]

1. This is a Reuters photo from 2/13/09.

/

[WriteDown]

2. I should amend that.

I will wait for video or audio. Photos from a Cuban agency that look like he's a cardboard cut out or was photoshopped in don't cut it. Of course I don't expect they'll be any video, but if there is I'll issue an apology in DU in bold caps.

[EFerrari]

3. LOL! Maybe you should apologize to Reuters instead. n/t

[WriteDown]

6. Check the byline of the photo

Courtesy of Granma/Handout (CUBA)

You know there won't be any video or audio. Just admit it.

[EFerrari]

7. LOL! But Reuters RAN it.

Never mind. I certainly won't wait on you.

[WriteDown]

8. Knew you wouldn't admit it.

Of course if he was walking around Havana, there would be video from someone right? Right??????

[EFerrari]

9. Admit what? I posted a photograph that Reuters ran.

You have this weird obsession with Castro's death. I hope it does whatever it is that you need it to do.

lol

[WriteDown]

11. True story...

I saw Elvis in New Orleans on Tuesday. Turns out he's alive and working on a new album.

Just as believable.

[Peace Patriot]

12. Reuters saw Elvis! Cool! nt

[mikelgb]

4. lol

remember: donkeys not mules

[Dumak]

5. Examine the photos

The Fidel images are not exactly the same, so it's definitely not a cardboard of him.

[bird gerhl]

10. Good grief!

Is Fidel Castro's imminent demise the only reason you get out of bed in the morning??

[ret5hd]

14. I'd say it's PPP...

pay-per-post.

[ohio2007]

18. Photos from a Cuban agency that look like he's a cardboard cut out

Are camera's banned in Cuba? seems if he was out and about one or two would have loved to take a pic or two.



Cuba's Revolution One Generation Too Long
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=8b6_1230917502



http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a9d_1203410947

[JackRiddler]

21. Actually, you should apologize to Chilean President Michelle Bachelet...

who would have had to participate in this conspiracy to promote a Fidel cardboard cutout as the real man.

Face it, Miami, you lost at the Bay of Pigs a looooooong time ago and it hasn't helped your sanity.

[JackRiddler]

22. Actually, you should apologize to Chilean President Michelle Bachelet...

who would have had to participate in this conspiracy to promote a Fidel cardboard cutout as the real man.

Face it, Miami, you lost at the Bay of Pigs a looooooong time ago and it hasn't helped your sanity.

[vinylsolution]

13. Can you imagine the crowds....

.... if George W Bush was spotted on the streets of New Orleans?

[Mika]

15. Cubans in Cuba love the Castro brothers.

They are their country's primary Revolutionary war heroes. Legends. Just as the historic war heroes in most any country are revered, so are they.

These guys are still alive! The Cubans broke free of the shackles of US blood soaked oligarchy with the help and organizational skills of these guys. Cuba survived armed attack by the US in a bid to overthrow the revolution and were stopped cold by the tactical skills of Raul and Fidel - who were right on the front lines in harm's way. Heroic stuff that legends are made of.

The Cuban people love them. So much so that both of the Castro brothers drove themselves around in open jeeps until Fidel got sick, but Raul still does. They stop and talk with people on the street or at a local farmers markets, construction projects and such. The citizens crowd around just as they do (or would, if they could) President Obama, to get autographs or just to say hi and give a hand shake, and some even to complain about something not working right. In those cases they crank out a notepad and ask for all the details and then scribble a note and later look into it to get things resolved. And they do. Cubans love them for their direct contact and connection to the regular Cubans. In this way they know all about Cuba. This is the way the subsequent generations of representatives are working too. This method has been successful, and Cuba has the social stats to bear that out.

If Fidel shows up somewhere to get a change of scene, I have no doubt that any Cubans who did see him would be overwhelmed. He is their #1 hero. And rightly so, and when the time comes when he passes into the ether, Cubans will miss him.

I have spent time in Cuba and I know this to be so.

[blindpig]

19. Recommended post.

How is it that human behavior which would be regarded as perfectly natural gets put on it's head when words like 'communists' or 'socialists' are involved? Must be something wrong with those people, they must be brainwashed!

There's this little hotel on the Bay of Pigs, modest cabanas, that has a huge mural of the action during the invasion. Che and Fidel lean on a Sherman tank discussing tactics(I guess) while columns of men advance up the road on either side. Could have been Lee and Jackson most anywhere in the South.

Interesting side note, the mural had been reworked in recent years to include some of Cuba's endemic wildlife around the edges, nice touch!

On edit: I must note that that mural was the only public image of Fidel that I saw anywhere on the island.

[Judi Lynn]

16. Chavez: Fidel Castro in ‘very, very good shape’

Chavez: Fidel Castro in ‘very, very good shape’
He even went for walk in Havana, Venezuela's leader says after Cuba visit
updated 5:28 p.m. CT, Fri., Feb. 27, 2009

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Friday that 82-year-old Fidel Castro seemed in "very, very, very good" shape when they met in Cuba last week.

Remarking on the former Cuban president's health for the first time since their latest meeting, Chavez said Castro was "much better than all the times I've visited him in the past three years, two and a half years."

Castro has not been seen in public since mid-2006, when he underwent intestinal surgery and ceded power to his younger brother Raul.

Venezuela's socialist leader said in a telephone call carried on state television early Friday that he met with the elder Castro twice, once for three hours on Feb. 20 and a day later for more than four hours.

"Fidel is — well — very, very, very good. Very good," Chavez said.

In a televised speech later Friday, Chavez said he had received four letters from Castro a day earlier.

"Fidel surprised us all," Chavez said. "He went for a walk. Fidel went out and they saw him. ... Fidel walking through Havana, through the streets. A miracle. The people were crying.

More:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29433105/

[Mika]

17. Hopefully, he'll survive yet another US administration.

He's one seriously tough old coot.

[ohio2007]

20. Fidel walking through Havana ?

This is the latest video I can 'dig up' of Fidel;
feb '08
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a9d_1203410947



Cuban students comment on the leadership;


New videos show something rarely seen in Cuba: People challenging restrictions. CNN's Morgan Neill reports
� Videos hint at public discontent in Cuba
� Raul Castro tops brother Fidel in votes
Source: CNN
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=8b1_1202452346
just sayin