Cuban president Raul Castro has dismissed rumours his older brother Fidel Castro was at death's door, saying he was mentally and physically active despite a long illness that has kept him out of public view.
Speculation had been rising that the ailing 82-year-old was in serious condition after he failed to attend celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the Cuban revolution that put him in power on January 1st, 1959 and stopped publishing his newspaper columns in mid-December.
Fidel also had not received recent visiting heads of state, but yesterday he met Argentine president Cristina Fernandez, who said they talked for more than an hour, mostly about new US president Barack Obama.
"He spent time with the president, he is exercising, thinking a lot, reading a lot, assisting me and helping," Raul Castro said. "Soon I'm going to make a trip to Europe. Do you think I could leave from here if Fidel was gravely ill?"
Speaking to reporters at the Havana airport as he was seeing off Ms Fernandez after her three-day Cuba visit, Raul Castro said the speculation about his brother was all wrong and told the press to publish it "so the rumours end".
Ms Fernandez also moved to quash the rumours about Fidel Castro's poor health.
"We talked about everything. He looked very good to me. We talked about the international situation," she was quoted as saying by Argentina's official news agency, Telam.
Fidel Castro has not been seen in public since July 2006 when he underwent surgery for an undisclosed intestinal ailment. He maintained a public profile through his writings, but they suddenly stopped after a December 15th column.
Reuters