Castro back in public eye to quell rumours of demise

Fidel Castro, who appeared in public for the first time in six months amid a swirl of rumours he was dead or dying, blasted the reports as rubbish in a sarcastic editorial in state media yesterday.

Castro, who left power in a health crisis in 2006 after almost five decades at Cuba’s helm, said US and international media had reported “the most singular garbage” about his health, claiming “I can’t recall when I last had a headache”.

“As a sign of how untrue these reports are, I am sending along a few photos with this article,” Castro wrote, under the cheeky headline “Fidel Castro is on his death bed.”