published: Saturday | June 9, 2007
HAVANA (Reuters):
Bolivian President Evo Morales visited convalescing Fidel Castro on
Thursday and said the Cuban leader looked like he had recovered well
from a health crisis that sidelined him from power.
In a quick one-day trip to Havana, Morales met with Cuba's acting
President, Raul Castro, who took over from his brother 10 months ago,
and other Cabinet members.
Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president, said he spoke with Fidel
Castro for two-and-a-half hours about health, education and energy
issues facing Latin America's developing nations.
"He looks much recovered," a beaming Morales said of the 80-year-old
leader, whom he considers an ideological beacon.
Castro underwent several op-erations last year for a life-threatening
intestinal condition that has kept him from reappearing in public.
Racquetball in Havana
Morales, who gets his exercise playing soccer in the Andean highlands,
found the time to play racquetball in Havana with Cuban Vice-President,
Carlos Lage.
Since he took office last year, Morales has brought Bolivia into a
leftist alliance forged by Castro and Venezuela's leftist President Hugo
Chavez to oppose U.S. policies in Latin America and block a plan for
hemispheric free trade.
Nicaragua joined the so-called Bolivaria for the Americas this year
after Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega returned as president.
Castro has taken to writing articles in his convalescence, mostly
attacking U.S. President George W. Bush's policies.
On Tuesday, Cuban television aired a one-hour interview with Castro
which shed no light on whether he intends to resume governing Cuba.
"I am a big admirer of Fidel and I am sure we will continue talking,"
Morales said before returning to La Paz.
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20070609/regional/regional1.html
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