Fidel Castro, out of seclusion, appears again

HAVANA (Reuters) - After four years in seclusion, Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro has suddenly become Havana's man about town.

The 83-year-old former comandante on Thursday made his fourth public appearance in just over a week when he visited the National Aquarium of Cuba, a pet project of his when he was still running the country, state-run website www.cubadebate.cu reported.

The report, also run on Cuban television, included numerous photographs of the casually dressed, white-haired Castro watching a dolphin show, chatting up aquarium workers and visitors and posing for pictures with admirers.

One of the workers was veterinarian Celia Guevara March, daughter of Ernesto "Che" Guevara, the Argentine who fought alongside Castro in the Cuban revolution.

Castro asked her about her family, the report said.

His visit included a couple of comments about his current prediction that the world is on the verge of war.

"The world lives between two tragedies -- that of the war and of the environment," he was quoted as saying.

For the past several weeks, Castro has been warning in his writings that a nuclear war is coming that will begin when the United States, in alliance with Israel, tries to enforce international sanctions against Iran for its nuclear activities.

He also has written in the past about the threat to the world's environment posed in particular by global warming.

Except for occasional photos and videos, Castro disappeared from public view after undergoing emergency intestinal surgery in July 2006.

SECLUSION ENDS

He ceded power provisionally to younger brother Raul Castro, then in February 2008 officially resigned 49 years after taking power in a 1959 revolution. The National Assembly elected Raul Castro to replace him as president.

His seclusion suddenly ended last week. On Saturday, first a blogger, then the government, said Castro had appeared on July 7 at the National Center of Scientific Investigations. They published photos of the visit.

That was followed on Monday by a videotaped interview on national television about his war prediction, then on Tuesday by an appearance at the Havana's Center for Research on the World Economy.

At the latter, photos showed him sitting at the head of a table asking economists to think about how to created a "new civilization" after the coming war.

Intended or not, his re-emergence has drawn attention away from Cuba's largest release of political prisoners since 1998 in a deal with the Catholic Church.

The agreement, announced on the day of his first appearance, calls for the government to free 52 jailed dissidents.

Eleven have been released so far and flown to Madrid with their family members.

Castro has not mentioned the release of the men, who were jailed in a 2003 crackdown when he was still in power.

The report on www.cubadebate.cu said the bearded comandante was fascinated by the dolphin show, and particularly the trainers who swam with the sea mammals for long periods under water.

Castro remembered his own experience as a diver and said in those days he could hold his breath for more than two minutes.

In one photo, he posed with two of the dolphin trainers, both young women, his arm around one, holding the hand of another.

"Working with women is very good, and much safer," he said.

(Reporting by Jeff Franks; editing by Mohammad Zargham)