Fidel Castro appears in public for first time in over a year

Cuba’s former president and revolutionary icon Fidel Castro has made his first public appearance in 14 months, local media reported Saturday. The state-run newspaper Granma said Castro had this week met with a Venezuelan delegation that had been invited to the communist island. Granma published four photographs on its website of the 88-year-old Castro seated inside a bus or van and shaking the hands of supporters leaning in through the vehicle’s windows. The bearded leader was wearing a blue-and-white tracksuit, a black cap and a hearing aid.

[The Venezuelans were left impressed] by Castro’s lucidity and his attention to the details of what is happening in Venezuela.

Granma, a state-run newspaper

Since leaving office in 2006 for health reasons, the father of the Cuban revolution has kept a low public profile. He last appeared on January 8, 2014 when he attended a gallery opening for a Cuban artist friend, and appeared frail in images that were not shown on official state media.

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