Castro Appears On Live Radio Talk Show
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HAVANA — Fidel Castro made his first live appearance on Cuban airwaves since falling ill 14 months ago, sounding lucid and in good humor as he exchanged praise and jokes yesterday with the Venezuelan president.
Mr. Castro’s telephone call to a television and radio program came minutes after President Chavez aired a new videotape of their weekend meeting in which the Venezuelan leader sang revolutionary hymns to Mr. Castro and called him “father of all revolutionaries.”
“I am very touched when you sing about Che,” Mr. Castro told Mr. Chavez during his hour-long call to Mr. Chavez’s “Alo, Presidente!” program — referring to the revolutionary icon Ernesto “Che” Guevara, to whom the program was dedicated.
“There is electricity in the air,” Mr. Chavez said, obviously pleased with Mr. Castro’s call.
Mr. Castro, who has not appeared in public since falling ill in July 2006, made his last live appearance in February with a phone call to Mr. Chavez’s radio program broadcast from Venezuela. But there was a half-hour delay before that program was broadcast in Cuba.
On the videotape, reportedly made during a meeting of more than four hours Saturday afternoon, Mr. Chavez also gave Mr. Castro a painting he said he made while imprisoned in the early 1990s after leading a failed coup. The dark-colored painting showed the bars of his cell and a night scene beyond, with a full red moon and a guard tower in the distance. Mr. Castro told him he needed to sign his work.
Cuban state television was broadcasting Mr. Chavez’s program live from Santa Clara, where the communist government last week commemorated the 40th anniversary of Guevara’s death.
Mr. Chavez toured the museum below the towering statue of Guevara, which also contains a mausoleum housing Guevara’s remains. Earlier yesterday, Cuban state press released two new official photos of the men together but provided no details about the Cuban leader’s health. In both the video and the photographs, Mr. Castro wore the red, white, and blue track suit that has become his typical dress during his convalescence.
