http://www.smh.com.au/world/photo-belies-castro-health-rumours-20121022-281gi.html
Photo belies Castro health rumours Date, October 23, 2012 Still smiling ... Fidel Castro, left, with Elias Jaua in Havana. Photo: AFP HAVANA: Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro has been photographed with former Venezuelan vice-president Elias Jaua, contradicting rumours he is in poor health. An image showed Dr Castro, wearing a straw hat, in a vehicle with Mr Jaua and several other people. Dr Castro reportedly accompanied Mr Jaua to the Hotel Nacional in Havana on Saturday. Castro in Cuba ... Castro has written an article in state media criticising those who spread rumors he was on his death bed. Photo: AP Earlier reports of the former president's failing health, predominantly on Twitter, appeared to have been sparked by comments by Venezuelan doctor Jose Rafael Marquina to Spanish newspaper ABC. Dr Marquina was reported as saying Dr Castro, 86, had suffered a ''massive embolism'' to an artery in the right side of his brain. He was not on life support or mechanical breathing, ''but his health is precarious'', the doctor said, declining to reveal his sources. On October 11 Dr Castro's son Alex denied earlier reports of his father's failing health. On Thursday, the Cuban Public Health Minister, Roberto Morales, read out a message, reportedly written by Dr Castro earlier that day, congratulating students of a medical training facility on their graduation. Dr Castro has not been seen in public since March, when he met the visiting Pope Benedict XVI. His newspaper column, ''Fidel's Reflections'', stopped appearing in June. The former Cuban leader also did not publicly congratulate the success of his protege Hugo Chavez in Venezuela's presidential elections this month. Deutsche Presse-Agentur Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/photo-belies-castro-health-rumours-20121022-281gi.html#ixzz2A47a2wMn [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
