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Fidel Castro overcomes health crisis

Cuban leader looks healthier and more alert; meets Vietnamese official

— PHOTO: AP

IN FINE FETTLE: Cuba's President Fidel Castro meets Vietnamese Communist Party chief Nong Duc Manh in Havana on Saturday.

HAVANA: HAVANA: Fidel Castro looked stronger on Sunday in the first images the Cuban government has released of him in months, showing him in a brief videotape and photographs meeting visiting Vietnamese Communist Party chief.

In the video clip shown on state television, and four photographs of his two-hour meeting with Nong Duc Manh published on Sunday in the Communist youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde, Mr. Castro appeared to be wearing the same red track suit with black and white trim that he wore in some of the past images released by the Government.

In one photograph, the pair is seen sitting on rattan chairs and chatting, and in the other three they are standing, including one that shows them embracing.

It was the first official videotape of Mr. Castro released since a meeting in Havana in late January with his friend and ally Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, and the first still photographs released of him since a meeting with Chinese Communist Party leader Wu Guanzheng in April.

The meeting between the Cuban and Vietnamese leaders was first reported by state television on Saturday night on the regular news broadcast, but the images were not released until hours later.

The statement said Mr. Castro and Mr. Manh met for two hours, discussing themes ``of mutual interest and especially about Latin America and the Caribbean.''

Mr. Castro (80) has not been seen in public since he announced on July 31 that he had undergone emergency intestinal surgery and was temporarily ceding power to his brother Raul, the Defence Minister, who turns 76 on Sunday.

In one of a new series of essays he has been writing during his convalescence, Mr. Castro said he had undergone numerous operations and the first one had not gone well, explaining why his recovery has been delayed. — AP

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