MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Cuban press releases pictures of Fidel Castro with Ecuador’s Correa

The photo from Juventud Rebelde shows a well-groomed Castro wearing a white short-sleeve shirt and standing face-to-face with Correa.

A new picture of Fidel Castro has been published in a state-run newspaper, apparently showing Cuba's ailing former leader in much better health. Castro, 83 was pictured meeting with the Ecuadorean president, Rafael Correa, on Friday.

He has also appeared on state television Cubavision for the first time in 14 months, chatting to Venezuelan students, in a meeting which reportedly took place on Saturday. Castro has not been seen in public since undergoing an abdominal operation in 2006.

The photo -- the second in 10 days -- published in Juventud Rebelde, shows a well-groomed Castro wearing a white short-sleeve shirt and standing face-to-face with Correa.

The meeting involved discussions of economic matters and medical checkups, according to the state-run newspaper.

Another photo of the former Cuban president was released on August 13 by Pastors For Peace, a US-based advocacy group that recently traveled to the island nation and is pushing for an end to the near half-century-old U.S. trade embargo.

The Cuban leader ceded the presidency to his younger brother, Raul, last year, but has retained leadership of the Communist Party, the only legal political party.

Castro’s failure to appear at last year’s celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Cuban revolution led to speculation that his health had deteriorated further, and previous photographs have shown him dressed in an ill-fitting tracksuit, looking tired and drawn.