MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Fidel Castro back on stage to discuss “issues of interest in the international situation”

The Cuban revolutionary leader in his military-style fatigues

Former Cuban President Fidel Castro’s request for an extraordinary session of parliament to discuss foreign affairs was granted Wednesday which could mean the retired leader of the 1959 revolution may be taking a greater role in government.

The National Assembly will meet August 7 to “analyze various issues of interest in the international situation,” state-owned newspaper Juventud Rebelde reported Wednesday. Castro, dressed in a military-style green shirt had anticipated during an appearance at a July 26 celebration of Cuba’s Revolution Day that he would request such a session.

Castro, 83, returned to the public eye last month, giving his first television interview in at least three years on July 13 and later releasing an autobiography this week about the years leading up to the revolution.

Fidel began transferring control to his brother Raul in July 2006, when he underwent intestinal surgery, and officially stepped down as president in 2008.

His book “The Strategic Victory” is a memoir of the victory of his rebel forces against the country's dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959.

“It's something special to remember all that” said Fidel during the launching of the 896-page memoir at a televised ceremony held at the Havana International Convention Centre.
The function was attended by several former commanders of the First Rebel Front who led the battle against the offensive launched by the US-equipped and trained army of the dictator, according to Prensa Latina.

They were “the boys”, as the former Cuban president called them.

The voluminous book is a tribute to them and to all those who fell during the last phase of the liberation war that ended triumphantly Jan 1, 1959. It was an uneven fight between 300 poorly-equipped men against a 10,000-strong, well-armed army, he said.

“Who trained that army of torturers? Who supplied the weapons, the tanks, the planes, the frigates? Who taught them to torture and kill prisoners?” asked Castro. And answered: “It was the US government, the same that is now torturing Gerardo Hernandez without any justification,” he stressed referring to one of the five Cubans languishing in US jails.

”Everything is there (in the book), the Turquino (mountain peak), the Joaquin (high grounds), La Jeringa, the small store,” Castro, who has been working on the book since June 2009, said.

Fidel also announced that he will work on a second book that will tell the counter-offensive of the rebel forces till they victoriously entered Havana.