HAVANA — Fidel Castro said Wednesday he is no longer healthy enough to speak to Cuba's masses in person and can't campaign for Sunday's parliamentary elections, adding in an essay "I do what I can: I write. For me, this is a new experience: writing is not the same as speaking."

"I am not physically able to speak directly to the citizens of the municipality where I was nominated for our elections next Sunday," the ailing 81-year-old wrote.

Castro's latest essay focused on blasting U.S. President George W. Bush, but included another vague hint about how the Cuban leader is feeling. It was published on the front pages of state-run newspapers a day after Castro met for more than two hours with Brazilian President Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who said he though Castro appeared healthy enough to resume a political role in Cuba.

"I think Fidel is ready to take to take over his historic political role in this globalized world, in humanity," Silva told reporters as he left Cuba late Tuesday, concluding a 24-hour visit.

Castro has not been seen in public since emergency intestinal surgery forced him to cede power to a provisional government headed by his younger brother Raul, five years his junior.

"My feeling is that Fidel is in very good health, that he's as lucid as he's ever been," Silva said.

Of course...he's dead! Been dead since October 2006.

Fidel has been hospitalized since summer 2006.

This doen't auger to well for a full recovery.
Even if they fix one leak another one pops up somewhere else.
He's a tuff old mofo.

Hope the old man's health gets better. It'd be really sad to lose a guy from the Guevara generation, specially a man like Fidel.

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Hope the old man's health gets better. It'd be really sad to lose a guy from the Guevara generation, specially a man like Fidel.

Agreed Lucky he is a true pioneer.You know his picture is one of the most recognized in the world today.After what how many years since he lead the revolution.Close to fifty years now how many South American dictators can say that?

I would like to see the odds on this commie bast@rd from Vegas and London....there must be a death pool somewhere......but where?

Has anyone any insight on any social improvements taking place since baby bro took over?

Business as usual from what i understand.

Yeah, well one would hope that they would start making little steps of improvement. God knows in our supposedly free Western society it's hard enough to get sh!t to change in government and societal thinking...but that said...you probably will not see much, I would venture, until Castro fills the casket...

Jesus- I've been too ill to speak for quite a while. The only way left for to salvage the last scraps of my humanity is attempting to interact with other lost souls via the magical medium of the internet.

Of course he's too ill to speak, he's been dead for 8 months.

d@mn it!! I had him dead at 6 1/2 and I just put a fin on it....

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Picture of flashman

Posted January 16, 2008 07:58 PM Hide Post
Of course he's too ill to speak, he's been dead for 8 months.

LMFAO!
Good one flashman

We need a western leader to go down there and check. I mean he's "meeting" all these shady guys from South America (not very credible in my opinion). Get Jimmy Carter to go pay him a visit and if he sais Fidel is still kicking then thats all the proof I need. But otherwise it's hard to believe he's still alive after not being in the public eye for so long.

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Originally posted by LuckyBreak:
Hope the old man's health gets better. It'd be really sad to lose a guy from the Guevara generation, specially a man like Fidel.

I agree...first Stalin, then Juan Peron... I mean, they just don't make men like that anymore.

I was in Cuba last month and picked up a copy of Granma. On the cover was an old pic of Castro and an article about his recent meeting with the Prime Minister of Canada. It peaked my interest and I turned to the second page to see a picture of Jean Chretien!
How's that for believable news.

I'd take Fidel over any American president, any day.

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Originally posted by Cohiba_Diablo:
his recent meeting with the Prime Minister of Canada. It peaked my interest and I turned to the second page to see a picture of Jean Chretien!
How's that for believable news.

Now...for those of you that aren't quite up on Canadian Politics....Jean Chretien was the Prime Minister of Canada....back in 2003.

Gene L

quote:

Originally posted by LuckyBreak:
I'd take Fidel over any American president, any day.

I'm sure you would. Those unfamiliar with democracy don't ever seem to understand, and end up blowing themselves up to prove a point. If you'd like to prove a point, please go ahead. But before you do, ask some people living in Cuba about the virtues of the Castro system...ask them about the power outages where they randomly shut down entire neighborhoods in the sweltering heat of the summer, causing refrigerators to break, spoiling precious food that the begged, borrowed and stole to buy...ask them about the sweltering heat they have to endure without any fans or air conditioning to the point that they can't sleep...ask them about the travesty that is public transportation...maybe invite a few to fly out and stay with you (oh, wait a minute...they can't because they're virtual prisoners on the island)...ask them about the freedom of press and the access to information on the internet...ask them about the ability to go out and buy things they need...ask them about the ability to criticize the politics...THEN go blow yourself up to prove a point.

Give US a lucky break...

quote:

Now...for those of you that aren't quite up on Canadian Politics....Jean Chretien was the Prime Minister of Canada....back in 2003.

Thanks!
Guess I should have mentioned that.

quote:

Originally posted by LuckyBreak:
I'd take Fidel over any American president, any day.

Well, maybe in egypt he's a step up but I assure you any American would prefer an incompetent president (e.g., Bush) over a dictator.

I think the Cuban people deserve a leader that will not subdue their freedoms. But its unlikely, given their history.