Castro reappears to quash death rumors

By Anthony Boadle

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban leader Fidel Castro appeared in his first television interview in more than three months on Friday, ending speculation that the ailing revolutionary had died or suffered a major relapse.

Castro, 81, spoke slowly about world affairs, the Cold War and the global economy, but appeared little changed from the last time he was shown in a state television interview on June 5.

"Here I am," Castro said, rebuffing those who have speculated that he was at death's door, already dead or about to die. "Nobody knows when he is going to die."

Dressed in what has become a customary red, blue and white athletic jacket, sitting in an armchair and showing his age through the gray in his beard and bags under his eyes, Castro answered questions about an essay he published this week and attacked the United States, his longtime ideological foe.

"Yesterday the euro was at $1.41. Oil I think about $84 a barrel," Castro said at one point, indicating that he was up to date on current affairs and signaling that the interview was very recent.

He also held up a copy of a book by former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, "The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World," which was published this week, and read excerpts in Spanish from the dust jacket.

Castro, who took power on the Caribbean island in a 1959 revolution, handed over control to his younger brother, Raul Castro, on July 31, 2006, after emergency intestinal surgery. He has not appeared in public since then.

Instead, he has been seen in occasional photographs and videos with visiting foreign leaders and has published a steady stream of columns and essays in state media over the past six months.

RUMORS

His failure to appear on his birthday on August 13 fueled rampant rumors in Miami -- the heartland of exiled opposition to his nearly five-decade-long rule -- that Castro had had a major health setback, was on his deathbed or was already dead.

Beaming television presenter Randy Alonso said the interview that aired on Friday evening took place earlier in the day. It amazed Cubans, 70 percent of whom had known no other leader before Castro fell sick last year.

"People were saying that Fidel was dying, and there he is looking well," said Orlando Herrera, who watched the interview at the Havana train station. "Now the United States knows he is better."

"Fidel looks thin, but he is speaking fluently. That's a sign he is recovering well. He is strong. He held up a very heavy book," said state employee Heriberto Rodriguez.

In Miami, prominent Cuban exile Ramon Saul Sanchez said Castro was politically dead even though he was still alive, and change was inevitable in the Communist-ruled country.

"I think he's looking better than the last time he appeared on TV, but he is still a very sick person, a very old person. And even though his health is probably stable at this point, I think his political career is over," said Sanchez, who leads the Cuban exile group Democracy Movement.