Fidel Castro

amazed

Sunday March 9, 2008
Venezuela's Chavez finds Castro happy in retirement


HAVANA (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez visited his friend and mentor Fidel Castro on Saturday for the first time since the 81-year-old retired as Cuba's leader and said he found him happy and flowing with ideas.

Chavez spent all morning chatting with Castro during a stopover in Cuba on his way home from a regional summit in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, where Latin American presidents defused a tense border dispute between Colombia and Ecuador.

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez talks to reporters in Caracas March 6, 2008. Chavez visited his friend and mentor Fidel Castro on Saturday for the first time since the 81-year-old retired as Cuba's leader and said he found him happy and flowing with ideas. (REUTERS/Mariana Bazo/Files)

"I found Fidel happy, splendid and full of ideas, full of deep and wise thoughts," Chavez told Cuban television.

Castro, who has not appeared in public since falling ill in July 2006, was replaced on Feb. 24 by his brother Raul Castro as Cuba's first new leader in almost half a century.

Chavez, who has provided communist-run Cuba with vital support through generously financed oil supplies, met with Raul Castro on arrival in Havana on Friday.

"I talked for a long time with Chavez today. We are brothers," Fidel Castro said in a statement distributed by the Cuban government to the press by e-mail.

Both men have accused the United States of being behind a Colombian raid on leftist guerrillas camped inside the Ecuadorean border that sparked a weeklong diplomatic crisis and the buildup of troops by Venezuela and Ecuador on their borders with Colombia.

Chavez and Castro said the peaceful resolution of the crisis was a "defeat for U.S. imperialism."

amazed

Castro muncul di kaca tv selepas enam bulan

HAVANA (Cuba): Televisyen Cuba, buat pertama kali menyiarkan imej Fidel Castro berbual dengan presiden Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, di sebuah taman, enam bulan selepas Castro dilaporkan uzur.

Castro yang berumur 81 tahun kelihatan susut dan rambut serta janggutnya juga kelihatan lebih putih. Bagaimanapun, imej yang disiarkan itu tidak bersuara dan imej itu juga menunjukkan beliau masih bertenaga dan bercakap dengan adiknya, Presiden Raul Castro.

Beliau mengenakan sehelai jaket putih berjalur biru dan merah dalam imej yang disiarkan semalam. - AP




aku baru aje baca buku  ttg castro nih.. nanti ler kalu ada lapang sikit dan tgn aku tak sakit nak type aku citer ler  wokey...

timeoutzone

walaupon castro ni komunis, tp byk gak sumbangan dier kepada rakyatnya...
lagipon dier rampas kuasa dulu pon, sbb kerajaan terdahulu tu corrupt gile.. siap geng ngan mafia lagi..

dexa

Castro sudah tentukan di mana kubur
03/08/2008

SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba 3 Ogos – Rakyat Cuba mungkin tidak tahu di mana Fidel Castro, 82, bakal disemadikan apabila meninggal dunia kelak tetapi tiada misteri yang menyelubungi adiknya, Raul Castro mengenai perkara itu.

Presiden berusia 77 tahun yang menggantikan Fidel sejak tahun lalu itu telah pun memilih di mana beliau mahu disemadikan iaitu di sebuah makam yang terletak di kawasan perkuburan umum di bandar pergunungan Santiago de Cuba, timur negara ini.

Ia didirikan khas sebagai dedikasi kepada “Wira-Wira Revolusi” yang dipimpin oleh Fidel dan beliau sendiri sejak lima dekad lalu.

Di sinilah debu mayat Raul akan disemadikan iaitu di sisi kubur isterinya, Vilma Espin yang merupakan rakan seperjuangan yang dikahwininya selepas kejayaan revolusi pada 1959.

Perkahwinan dengan Espin yang meninggal dunia tahun lalu, dikurniakan empat anak.

“Batu monolith yang digunakan untuk mendirikan makam khas ini merupakan simbol kekuatan revolusi,” kata seorang pemandu pelancong, Madelaine Venegas.

Namun bagi rakyat Cuba, misteri mengenai di mana dan apa yang akan dilakukan ke atas mayat Fidel nanti, masih belum terjawab.

“Kami benar-benar tidak tahu apa yang akan dilakukan tetapi saya fikir mungkin abu mayatnya akan ditabur ke seluruh pergunungan Sierra Maestra ini,” kata seorang pekerja binaan, Pablo Garcia. – AFP


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

tu pun kalau dia tak meninggal - hilang  or kalau tak kena makan shark ke -
or kena gigit buaya ke ---  mayat tak jumpa -- so kubur tak ada -

macam2 manusia ni-  sebuk nak tentukan tentang kubur kat mana -
tapi ... oh well..  teladan untuk kita... kalau sebuk dengan perkara dunia
tak kekal mana pun -

amazed

Gambar terbaru Castro berimej kurus tapi bersemangat

In this Oct. 20, 2008 photo made available on Nov. 13, 2008
by the Russian Orthodox Church, Cuba's former President
Fidel Castro, left, stands with Russia's Metropolitan Kirill, of
Smolensk and Kaliningrad, in Havana. Cuba's first Russian
Orthodox cathedral was inaugurated on Oct. 19, 2008



HAVANA: Fidel Castro tampil dengan tubuh kurus dan lemah tetapi kelihatan bersemangat dalam gambar terbaru yang dipaparkan dalam laman web Russian Orthodox Church yang diperoleh Associated Press, semalam.

Bekas Presiden berusia 82 tahun itu berdiri dan memerhatikan kemera yang merakam gambarnya dengan mirip wajah yang agak terkejut.

Dengan rambut beruban dan disikat ke belakang serta berjambang, beliau memautkan tangannya bersama Metropolitan Kirill, pegawai tertinggi perhubungan gereja.

Gereja berkenaan mendakwa, gambar itu dirakam pada 20 Oktober lalu ketika Kirill berada di Havana dalam satu upucara pelantikan ketua paderi.

Media tempatan Cuba membuat liputan upucara itu tetapi tidak mengeluar sebarang gambarnya.

Ia adalah gambar pertama Castro sejak 17 Jun selepas media kerajaan negera itu menunjukkan beliau sedang berbual di sebuah taman dengan Presiden Venezuela, Hugo Chavez yang menjadi rakan rapatnya.

Imej terbaru ini memaparkan Castro memakai pakaian bersenam dengan baju hitam dan dikatakan menjadi pakaian biasanya sejak menjalani pembedahan kecemasan sebelum 'menghilangkan' diri daripada tumpuan awam pada Julai 2006.

Beliau menghidap sejenus penyakit yang tidak diketahui dan ditempatkan di satu lokasi yang dirahsiakan. - AP

amazed

Castro bidas Obama sokong serangan Israel

HAVANA - Bekas Presiden Cuba, Fidel Castro semalam mengutuk Presiden Amerika Syarikat (AS), Barack Obama kerana menyokong pentadbiran bekas Presiden George W. Bush yang menyokong usaha Israel untuk menghapuskan penduduk Palestin di Gaza.

Castro menyelar Obama kerana meneruskan legasi Bush yang memberi sokongan padu terhadap Israel.

Bekas pemimpin tersebut menyatakan demikian kerana memberi reaksi balas terhadap Obama yang memberi sokongan kepada Yahudi yang menyerang Gaza pada 27 Disember lalu.

Castro yang menyerahkan kuasa kepada adiknya pada Julai 2006 kerana faktor kesihatan berkata, sokongan AS itu menjadikan Israel sebuah negara kuasa nuklear sekali gus memperkukuhkan kuasa tenteranya yang bakal menjadi ancaman terhadap seluruh negara Islam. - AFP



resign2 pung...  masih lancang lagik  mcm masa dia jadi pres cuba dulu gak!!!  

choolakaw

suker beliau nihh coz berani menegakkan keadilannn dier resign pasal die sakitt...cube kalau tk sakitt tk resign dier nihh aku suke die coz die bestfren el che

dexa

Fidel Castro hails "magnificent" talk with US reps

HAVANA (Reuters) - Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro said on Wednesday he and three U.S. Congress members had a "magnificent meeting", but he reiterated doubts about the possibility of big changes in U.S.-Cuba relations.

In a column published in Cuba's state-run press, he wrote that he and the lawmakers had a cordial chat on Tuesday in what was believed to be his first meeting with U.S. officials in several years.


Cuban President Fidel Castro listens to a speaker during the
May Day parade on Havana's Revolution Square in this May 1, 2005
file photo. (REUTERS/Claudia Daut/Files)

He said he was impressed by their confidence in President Barack Obama, who has said the United States should change its antagonistic policies toward the communist-run island.

The U.S. delegation leader, Representative Barbara Lee, who met Fidel Castro with two other members of the Congressional Black Caucus, said after the encounter they had found the former Cuban leader to be "very healthy, very energetic, very clear thinking".

Speaking at a news conference in Washington later on Tuesday, she and the others said Castro had asked how to best help Obama normalize relations between their countries.

She said their message to Obama would be that "it's time to talk to Cuba" and that Washington must end its 47-year trade embargo against the island that is the primary bone of contention between the two countries. [nN07484168]

The meeting with Fidel Castro, which followed a Monday visit by the U.S. delegation with his younger brother, President Raul Castro, appeared to signal Cuba's desire for better U.S.-Cuba relations.

But Fidel Castro said he questioned a comment by Representative Bobby Rush, who said Obama will need Cuba's help to transform the relationship that has been sour since a 1959 revolution that put Castro in power.

"We weren't the aggressors nor did we threaten the United States. Cuba did not have at its disposal some alternative that would permit it to take the initiative," Castro wrote.

As he has in earlier columns, Castro praised Obama, but indicated that change in U.S. policy would be difficult because of powerful opposition.

"The objective realities were, in the United States, more powerful than the sincere intentions of Obama," Castro said.

Despite Castro's skepticism, the lawmakers got red-carpet treatment during their five days in Havana, including a four-hour meeting with Raul Castro and nearly two hours with the elder Castro, who resigned as president last year but still has clout.

Their visit came as Obama prepares for an April 17 Summit of the Americas in which Latin American leaders are expected to press for an end to the U.S. embargo on Cuba.

His staff has said he will announce shortly a lifting of restrictions on family travel and remittances between the U.S. and Cuba.

But Obama has said he will maintain the embargo until Cuba shows progress on human rights and democracy.

In the U.S. Congress, bills have been introduced that would eliminate a ban on travel to Cuba for all Americans.

amazed

Wednesday April 22, 2009
Fidel Castro dampens hopes for better U.S.-Cuba ties
By Jeff Franks
HAVANA (Reuters) - Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro put a damper on rising hopes for improved U.S.-Cuba relations by saying that apparently conciliatory words from his brother had been misinterpreted.

Cuba's former president Fidel Castro (R) poses with Dominican Republic's President Leonel Fernandez during a meeting in Havana March 2, 2009 in this photograph released by the government of the Dominican Republic on March 4, 2009. (REUTERS/Dominican Republic presidency/Handout/Files)

The 82-year-old Castro also signaled on Tuesday that Cuba may be unwilling to make concessions to end 50 years of hostilities with the U.S. because the Cuban government believes it is not at fault for their troubled relations.

He criticized U.S. President Barack Obama for supporting the United States' 47-year-old trade embargo against Cuba, saying he had now "made it his own."

"There's no doubt the president interpreted badly the declaration by Raul," said Castro, referring to a statement by his younger brother, President Raul Castro, on Thursday in which he said Cuba was prepared to discuss "everything" with the United States, including political prisoners and human rights.

The U.S. embargo, put in place three years after Fidel Castro took power in a 1959 revolution, has failed to achieve its goal of toppling the communist government he installed.

Raul Castro's words sent hopes for U.S.-Cuba rapprochement soaring when the Obama administration took them as a sign that Cuba wanted to move toward better relations in response to Obama's earlier decision to grant Cuban Americans the right to travel and send remittances freely to their homeland.

Obama, speaking in a news conference on Sunday at the close of a Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago, called President Castro's comments an "advance" and said there were other signals Cuba could send such freeing political prisoners and reducing the fees it charges to change dollars into Cuban money.

WHAT ORTEGA TOLD CARTER

But Fidel Castro cited a speech by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega at the summit in which he recounted telling former U.S. President Jimmy Carter that Washington, not Nicaragua, had to change if it wanted better relations because Nicaragua had never done anything against the United States.

Ortega, Castro wrote, stated the situation "very clearly."

It was the second time Castro had cited the Ortega tale in a post-summit column.

President Castro, who has not spoken publicly since his Thursday comments, also suggested that Cuba send political prisoners to the United States in exchange for five Cuban agents being held in U.S. prisons.

Fidel Castro brushed off the positive U.S. reaction to his offer by saying "nobody should be amazed" by the idea, which Raul Castro had proposed before.

He described it not as a signal from Cuba, but as "a show of courage and confidence in the principles of the revolution."
Castro also dismissed the idea that Cuba charges too much to exchange remittances.

Obama, while saying he wants improved relations with Cuba, maintains support for the embargo, which he wants to use as leverage for change in Cuba.

"He did not invent it, but he made it his own just like 10 other presidents of the United States. You can predict certain failure for him on that road, just as for all his predecessors," Castro said.

Fidel Castro has not been seen in public since falling ill in July 2006, but maintains a powerful voice through prolific column writing. He ruled Cuba for 49 years before ceding power to Raul Castro in February 2008.

amazed

Tuesday August 25, 2009Fidel Castro says racist right-wingers fight Obama
HAVANA (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is trying to make positive changes in the United States, but is being fought at every turn by right-wingers who hate him because he is black, former Cuban leader Fidel Castro said on Tuesday.

In an unusually conciliatory column in the state-run media, Castro said Obama had inherited many problems from his predecessor, George W. Bush, and was trying to resolve them. But the "powerful extreme right won't be happy with anything that diminishes their prerogatives in the slightest way."

Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro speaks with a group of Venezuelan students during a three-hour meeting in Havana in this photo taken August 22, 2009 and released August 24, 2009. Castro said Obama had inherited many problems from his predecessor, George W. Bush, and was trying to resolve them. (REUTERS/Courtesy of Granma/Handout)

Obama does not want to change the U.S. political and economic system, but "in spite of that, the extreme right hates him for being African-American and fights what the president does to improve the deteriorated image of that country," Castro wrote.

"I don't have the slightest doubt that the racist right will do everything possible to wear him down, blocking his program to get him out of the game one way or another, at the least political cost," he said.

Castro, who writes regular commentaries for Cuba's state-run media, has criticized Obama, complimented him occasionally and said that he is watching him closely to see if he means what he says about changing U.S. policy toward Cuba.

His latest column comes during a visit to Cuba by New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson that has stirred speculation that he may try to push U.S.-Cuba relations forward.

Richardson has been a diplomatic trouble-shooter in nations with which the United States has poor relations. In 1996 he negotiated with Castro for the release of three Cuban political prisoners.

Obama has said he wants to end 50 years of hostilities between the United States and Cuba and has eased the long-standing U.S. trade embargo against the communist-led island.

But he has said the embargo will be lifted only if Cuba shows progress on political prisoners and human rights. Cuban President Raul Castro has said he is happy to discuss these issues but will make no unilateral concessions.

Obama has been criticized by anti-embargo groups for moving too slowly on Cuban policy.

Castro, 83, ran Cuba for 49 years after taking power in a 1959 revolution, but stepped down last year so Raul Castro, his younger brother, could succeed him.

He has not been seen in public since undergoing intestinal surgery in July 2006, but still plays a behind-the-scenes role in government and maintains a high profile through his writings.

He appeared on Cuban television on Sunday for the first time in 14 months meeting with Venezuelan students.

He seemed in good health as he smiled and talked with the students in an appearance some experts believe was aimed at shoring up support for his brother and the government at a time when Cuba is in deep economic crisis.

amazed

Fidel Castro bersama isteri


GAMBAR menunjukkan Fidel bergambar bersama isterinya (kanan)
dengan Ortega (kiri) dan isterinya (dua dari kanan).

HAVANA - Terdapat pepatah yang menyatakan terdapat seorang wanita di belakang setiap lelaki yang hebat, lapor sebuah akhbar semalam.

Gambaran itu disesuaikan dengan bekas pemimpin komunis Cuba yang masih mempunyai pengaruh kuat, Fidel Castro yang kini berumur 84 tahun.

Fidel yang meletakkan jawatan pada Februari tahun lalu dan digantikan oleh adiknya, Raul Castro bergambar dengan isterinya, Dalia Soto del Valle yang 20 tahun lebih muda daripadanya pada April tahun lalu.

Sebelum ini, Fidel amat jarang bergambar dengan isterinya.

Gambar Fidel bersama isterinya itu disiarkan oleh dua laman web yang mempunyai kaitan dengan parti pimpinan Presiden Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega.

Ia dirakamkan semasa Ortega dan isterinya menemui Fidel pada April tahun lalu. - Agensi

amazed

25 Julai, 2010 Fidel Castro dons military shirt for latest outing

Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro salutes during
a visit to the Mausoleum of the Heroes of the
Revolution in Artemisa outside Havana July 24, 2010.
REUTERS/Revolution Studios/Handout





HAVANA, July 25 (Reuters) - Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro has been warning of an impending war and on Saturday he dressed for it, donning a green military shirt that was once his typical dress, in his latest public appearance after four years in seclusion.

A state-run website, www.cubadebate.com, showed a photograph of the 83-year-old comandante at a ceremony in the city of Artemisa, 36 miles (60 km) outside of Havana in his first-known trip out of Havana since he re-emerged publicly two weeks ago.

The report said Castro, who wore a military uniform for most of the 49 years he ruled Cuba, had on his "olive green shirt of a thousand battles."

In a report on state-run television, it could be seen that he wore athletic pants, which has been his preferred clothing since falling ill in July 2006.

He went to Artemisa to pay homage to young rebels from the city who died in the July 26, 1953 attack on the Moncada barracks in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba.

The attack led by Castro went badly, with many of the young people killed, but it is viewed as the start of the Cuban revolution that put him in power in 1959.

The country will mark the 57th anniversary of the assault on Monday with a speech by Castro's younger brother, President Raul Castro, in the city of Santa Clara.

Except for occasional photographs and videos, Fidel Castro was out of sight for four years after undergoing intestinal surgery. He has re-emerged in recent public appearances around Havana, with one apparent aim being to broadcast his message of doom.

Castro has been warning for weeks in his writings that nuclear war is imminent, sparked by the United States in alliance with Israel, attempting to enforce international sanctions against Iran for its nuclear activities.

He also says the United States, his foe for more than five decades, will attack North Korea, causing the war to spread.

He repeated his warnings indirectly on Saturday, saying news reports are confirming "the seriousness of the dangers that hover over humanity."

But, he said, "nobody can deprive us of the right to dream that it is still possible that our species can survive the difficult tests that await in the very near future."

Fidel Castro ceded power provisionally to his brother at the time of surgery, then officially when he resigned in February 2008 and Raul Castro was elected his successor by the National Assembly.