LISBON, Portugal (AFP): Convalescing Cuban President Fidel Castro has gained weight and is exercising daily, Cuba's Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said on Friday during a visit to Portugal.
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Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque.
AFP PHOTO |
The 80-year-old leader "is recuperating progressively and his recovery is constant", he told reporters after holding talks in Lisbon with his Portuguese counterpart Luis Amado, the Lusa news agency reported.
Castro, who led Cuba since its 1959 revolution, temporarily handed over power to his brother Raul, 75, on July 31 after undergoing intestinal surgery.
But on Thursday the leader of Cuba's national assembly, Ricardo Alarcon, suggested Castro could soon resume his presidential duties.
"I am certain he will be in perfect condition to continue assuming this responsibility," he told journalists when asked if the older Castro would seek re-election in 2008.
Since Castro stepped aside, he has appeared six times in film footage to show he was recuperating, the most recent on January 30.
Video footage of a meeting between Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez held in January showed the Cuban leader looking healthier and more alert than he did in previous pictures of him, though he appeared to have difficulty talking.
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