Cuba unveiled what it said is a recent photograph of ex-President Fidel Castro, showing him looking healthier than in other pictures since he underwent emergency surgery three years ago.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez met for more than four hours with Fidel Castro and state media today published two new official photos of the men together, but provided no new details about the ailing Cuban leader’s health.

COMMUNIST Cuba paid tribute yesterday to Ernesto “Che” Guevara, 40 years after the guerrilla fighter was captured and executed in Bolivia.

COMMUNIST Cuba paid tribute yesterday to Ernesto “Che” Guevara, 40 years after the guerrilla fighter was captured and executed in Bolivia.

Communist officials have rallied hundreds in outdoor meetings to publicly declare their support for ailing leader Fidel Castro to reassure Cubans’ worried about their long-ruling leader.

Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez went on a pilgrimage yesterday to Che Guevara’s house.

Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez rallied thousands of leftist sympathisers after a South American trade summit at Cordoba, in Argentina, railing against the US-backed free market policies they blame for many of Latin America’s woes.

At a rally against imperialism, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has told thousands of cheering activists at the World Social Forum that the US government is a vile “empire” and its president a ”terrorist”.

A documentary about Eamon de Valera’s early life that was too controversial for RTE to screen is now in production with a US television station.