Castro breaks silence on 'honest' Obama

Ailing ex-Cuban leader Fidel Castro has broken a five-week silence with an essay in which he calls US president Barack Obama “honest” in his ideas.

The 82-year-old, who Argentine president Cristina Fernandez yesterday, wrote in a statement posted on a government website hours later that he “did not have the slightest doubt of the honesty of Obama ... when he expresses his ideas”.

The meeting and essay dispelled rumours that Castro’s health had taken a turn for the worse.

He has normally published his ruminations a few times a week but had not released an essay since December 15, fuelling speculation that he could have lapsed into a coma.