Argentine prez: Fidel Castro ‘believes in Obama’

Thursday, January 22, 2009 at 9:01 am

Fidel Castro watched the US inauguration on television and said that Barack Obama seems “like a man who is absolutely sincere”, Argentina’s president said after meeting with the ailing Cuban icon.

“Fidel believes in Obama,” Cristina Fernandez said yesterday (January 21).

The meeting with Fernandez, just before she ended a four-day visit to Cuba, dispelled persistent rumors that the 82-year-old Castro had suffered a stroke or lapsed into a coma in recent days.

“I was with Fidel about an hour or more,” she told reporters at the airport as she left. “We were chatting, conversing. He looked good.”

Fernandez said Castro wore the track suit that has become his trademark since he fell ill in July 2006 and vanished from public view. A spokesman said the two met alone.

“He told me he had followed the inauguration of Barack Obama very closely, that he had watched the inauguration on television all day,” Fernandez said. “He had a very good perception of President Obama.”

Fernandez said Castro called Obama “a man who seems absolutely sincere,” who believes strongly in his ideas “and who hopefully can carry them out”.

Raul Castro, who took over the presidency from his brother, appeared with Fernandez, scoffing at the rumors about his brother’s health.

“Do you think if he were really gravely ill that I’d be smiling here?” Raul Castro said. “Soon I’m going to take a trip to Europe. You guys think I could leave here if Fidel were really in grave condition?”

Castro, 77, said his older brother spends his days “thinking a lot, reading a lot, advising me, helping me.”

(With inputs from Agencies)

( This post is from an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not endorsed by APakistanNews.Com.)

Argentine prez: Fidel Castro ‘believes in Obama’

From World:

Todays news from World News

Advertisement

Email Subscription

Advertisement