Spring Break
Fidel Castro says doesn't doubt Obama 'honesty'
Andrea Rodriguez The Associated Press
Issue date: 1/23/09 Section: News
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The comments by the former Cuban president were released after a meeting Wednesday with visiting Argentine President Cristina Fernandez, who told reporters that "Fidel believes in Obama."
The meeting with Fernandez dispelled persistent rumors that the 82-year-old Castro had suffered a stroke or lapsed into a coma in recent days.
"I was with Fidel about an hour or more," she told reporters at the airport as she left. "We were chatting, conversing. He looked good." Castro himself wrote that the meeting lasted 40 minutes and he said the two exchanged thoughts about the new U.S. president.
"I personally did not have the slightest doubt about the honesty of Obama, the 11th president since Jan. 1, 1959, when he expresses his ideas," Castro said he told Fernandez, referring to the day his band of bearded rebels toppled a dictator and took power in Cuba.
"But despite noble intentions, there are still many questions to answer," Castro added, singling out the question of whether a capitalist system can protect the environment.
Castro's essay was his first such writing since Dec. 15 - a silent spell that fed speculation his health had taken a turn for the worse.
Fernandez said Castro wore the track suit that has become his trademark since he fell ill in July 2006 and vanished from public view.
"He told me he had followed the inauguration of Barack Obama very closely, that he had watched the inauguration on television all day," Fernandez said.
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