MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

“Fidel is alive and well”, says Venezuelan politician who allegedly met with him

Venezuelan former Vice-president Jaua showed a picture of him with the ailing Cuban leader

Cuban leader Fidel Castro is alive and well, according to Elias Jaua, a former Venezuelan vice president who says he met with Castro over the weekend.

Brushing aside rumours that Castro was at death's door, Jaua, a key aide to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, on Sunday showed reporters pictures of the Saturday meeting and said Castro, 86, was in good health and lucid.

Jaua, who is running for governor in Venezuela's contested state of Miranda, said Castro accompanied him to Havana's famed Hotel National early on Saturday evening after their meeting. He then chatted briefly with the hotel's general manager, Antonio Martinez Rodriguez, before departing.

Fidel Castro's long absence from the public eye has fuelled blogger and Twitter rumours for weeks that he was dead or had suffered a brain stroke.

“Yes, he was here yesterday, the same old Fidel with his beard and pink cheeks. He was fine,” Martinez told local media on Sunday. Castro was reportedly in a modified Mercedes gray van and did not leave the vehicle.

Apart from the comments by Jaua and Martinez, and the pictures shown to the media, there was no independent confirmation that anyone had actually seen the former leader.

After resigning the presidency in 2008, Fidel Castro regularly wrote columns for the state press, but has not published one since June 19, and his last few were widely viewed as so oddball that they raised questions about his mental state.

Only his Twitter account has been active but all the tweets are simply links in the press. Twitter accounts in the name of politicians and other people in the public eye are often run largely by their aides.

His last known public appearance was in March when he met briefly with Pope Benedict during his visit to Cuba. Although he appeared mentally sharp, he had trouble walking and was badly stooped.

Chavez, a close friend and ally, who last week was in Cuba for a check-up on his own cancer recovery, has insisted that Castro is well and a few days ago Alex Castro said his father was exercising and doing fine.

A letter from Castro congratulating a Havana medical institute on its 50th anniversary was splashed across the front pages of Cuban newspapers on Thursday in his first appearance in print in four months.

The letter and an accompanying story, which took up the entire first page of the Communist Party newspaper Granma, appeared to be an attempt to dampen rumours about his health.