Recovering from illness, Cuban leader Fidel Castro said he is
not well enough to talk in public but he is doing what he can, like
meditating and writing, the official local daily Granma
reported Wednesday.
"I do not have the necessary physical strength to talk directly
to the people of the municipality where I was selected for next
Sunday's elections. I do what I can: I write," Castro wrote in an
article for his "Reflections" column dated Monday and published
Wednesday.
"I barely have enough time to write, now that I have more time
to read and meditate about what I see," Castro wrote.
In the "Reflections" published on Wednesday, a column he began
in March 2007, Castro reiterated his rejection to biofuels which
were defended by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva,
especially ethanol based on sugar cane.
Castro also wrote that US President George W. Bush's tour of the
Middle East posed a threat "to the world with a nuclear war."
"All the world knows he wants a war against Iran," Castro
wrote.
Castro held talks with Lula on Tuesday for two hours and a half
during the latter's 24-hour visit to Cuba.
Three photographs showing Castro with Lula at the meeting are
published by the local papers. In another photo, Castro was shown
as taking a picture of Lula with a camera.
Castro, 81, temporarily ceded power to Defense Minister Raul
Castro in late July 2006 due to an intestinal hemorrhage.
Castro "is in very good health, with a lucidity like in his best
moments," Lula said after the meeting. The "Cuban leader will soon
be ready to assume his political role in the island, in history and
in the current globalized world," he added.
(Xinhua News Agency January 17, 2008)
