TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Castro Doubts He Will Be Around In 4 Years

ADVERTISEMENT

The Associated Press

Published: January 24, 2009

HAVANA - A new photograph released Friday shows Fidel Castro looking less gaunt than in an image two months ago, but the ailing Cuban leader said he doubts he'll make it to the end of Barack Obama's four-year term.

The photograph shows Castro standing in a blue track suit and holding the arm of Argentine President Cristina Fernandez during a visit Wednesday.

Castro, 82, hasn't been seen in public since undergoing abdominal surgery in July 2006, and he formally turned over the presidency to his brother, Raul, in 2008. On Thursday night, he instructed Cuban officials to start making decisions without taking him into account.

In a column titled "Reflections of Comrade Fidel," he suggests his days are numbered, saying Cuban officials "shouldn't feel bound by my occasional 'Reflections,' my state of health or my death."

"I have had the rare privilege of observing events over such a long time. I receive information and meditate calmly on those events," he wrote. "I expect I won't enjoy that privilege in four years, when Obama's first presidential term has ended."

He didn't elaborate, but the lines had the ring of a farewell.

"I have reduced the 'Reflections' as I had planned this year, so I won't interfere or get in the way of the Communist Party or government comrades in the constant decisions they must make," he wrote.

Despite stepping down from the presidency after nearly half a century as Cuba's supreme leader, Castro's periodic essays have continued to carry weight.

They are diligently read at the top of midday and nightly radio and television newscasts before any other national or international story.

Thursday's essay came out on a government Web site shortly before the nightly news, and it was published in the state media on Friday.

The bulk of the column was devoted to praising Obama, the 11th U.S. president since the Cuban revolution, in part for his decision to close the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay. Castro recalled his thoughts Tuesday as he watched Obama assume the "leadership of the empire."

"The intelligent and noble face of the first black president of the United States ... had transformed itself under the inspiration of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King into a living symbol of the American dream," he wrote.

Castro praised Obama as honest, writing: "No one could doubt the sincerity of his words when he affirms that he will convert his country into a model of freedom, respect for human rights in the world and the independence of other nations."

However, Castro suggested Obama would succumb to threats greater than his own qualities: "What will he do soon, when the immense power that he has taken in his hands is absolutely useless to overcome the unsolvable, antagonistic contradictions of the American system?"

Obama has said he will not end the U.S. embargo on Cuba without democratic reforms on the island but will ease limits on Cuban-Americans' visits there and on the money they send home to relatives. He has also offered to negotiate personally with Raul Castro.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT