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Healthy looking Fidel Castro meets Ecuador leader

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-24 11:29

 

In this Friday, Aug. 21, 2009 photo taken and released Sunday, Aug. 23, 2009 by Cuba's newspaper Juventud Rebelde, Cuba's leader Fidel Castro, right, and Ecuador's President Rafael Correa meet in Havana. Castro, 83, wore a white shirt instead of the sports apparel he had worn in recent photos. [Agencies]

HAVANA: Cuba's Communist Youth newspaper is showing a photo of a healthier-looking Fidel Castro talking with the visiting Ecuadorean president.

Sunday's photo in Juventud Rebelde shows the 83-year-old Castro wearing a white shirt instead of the sports apparel he has worn in recent photos. The meeting with Rafael Correa occurred Friday.

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Castro ceded power to his brother Raul after falling ill three years ago and he has not been seen in public since. He stepped down as president in February 2008.

Cuba's state-run press occasionally publishes photographs of Castro with visitors, but news of his health is considered a state secret. Castro also often publishes essays on global affairs.

Correa's visit includes medical checkups.