Chile publishes photos of Fidel Castro, Bachelet

[Judi Lynn]

Friday February 13, 2009
Chile publishes photos of Fidel Castro, Bachelet

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chile's presidency on Friday posted photographs of Fidel Castro with visiting Chilean President Michelle Bachelet on its website, showing the former Cuban leader smiling and in apparently good health.

After the meeting in Havana on Thursday, Bachelet said they chatted for 1-1/2 hours and that Castro, 82, bombarded her with statistics and questions about Chile's economy.

The pictures published on www.presidencia.cl show Castro standing next to Bachelet, dressed in a white, gray and black track suit, smiling and in apparently good health.

Castro had surgery for an undisclosed intestinal ailment in July 2006 and has stayed out of sight since then except for a few photos and videos in which he has at times appeared frail.

More:
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/2/13/worldupdates/2009-02-13T155236Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-380025-1&sec=Worldupdates



Chile's President Michelle Bachelet gestures while addressing the media outside the University of Havana in Havana February 12, 2009. Chile's presidency on Friday posted photographs of Fidel Castro with Bachelet on its website, showing the former Cuban leader smiling and in apparently good health. (REUTERS/Claudia Daut)



Michelle Bachelet visits Fidel Castro.

[Judi Lynn]

1. Bachelet finds Fidel Castro “very active and very agile”

Friday, February 13, 2009
Bachelet finds Fidel Castro “very active and very agile”

Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro met with visiting Chilean President Michelle Bachelet on Thursday said she found him “very active and in good condition” and “very much interested in Chilean affairs”.
"He is in very good condition," Bachelet told reporters in Havana following the 90 minutes meeting, adding he was “as always, Fidel Castro, very interested in the themes of Chile, handling a lot of information, statistics, interested to know the performance in areas that have been successful, like the development of grape growing and wine, the development of our economy," she said.

Bachelet, who is a doctor, also said Castro was "very agile" and "active". She said they had an interesting exchange about the region’s challenges and the current situation in Latinamerica under the current international recessive context.

Castro, 82 underwent surgery for an undisclosed intestinal ailment in July 2006 and has stayed out of sight since then except for a few photos and videos in which he has at times appeared frail.

However in the last few weeks and in spite of rumours about his condition he has met with three South American presidents: Tabare Vazquez from Uruguay, Argentina’s Cristina Kirchner and now Ms. Bachelet.

More:
http://www.mercopress.com/vernoticia.do?id=16095&formato=HTML

[Judi Lynn]

2. Reflections by Fidel Castro: A Meeting with Michelle Bachelet, the President of Chile

Reflections by Fidel Castro: A Meeting with Michelle Bachelet, the President of Chile
Posted: 2009/02/13


Michelle has the merit of having been elected president of Chile by the majority vote which was bestowed upon the Socialist Party that nominated her.

It doesn’t matter what I say about the friendly meeting, some news agencies and papers will take the information and will print that the old man, convalescing after a serious illness or some other descriptor directed towards reducing the modest value of whatever I expressed to my prestigious interlocutor.

Michelle has the merit of having been elected president of Chile by the majority vote which was bestowed upon the Socialist Party that nominated her. For the first time in recent years in Latin America, a leftist organization had won such a victory, without the backing of money, weapons and the Yankee publicity apparatus.

And especially since this honour had to do with the Socialist Party of Salvador Allende, who died under the wily direct air attack on La Moneda where he was occupying his position as the constitutional president of Chile. He neither asked for nor granted any truce. He was determined to die at his post, just as he had promised.

There were no precedents for the sinister treason committed by the head of the Chilean army who pretended and duped everyone right up to the end.

Even the house, at Tomas Moro, where his family resided, was also attacked and destroyed.

During very difficult moments in that period, after thousands of people had been tortured, murdered and disappeared, a very young woman named Gladys Marin was leading the Communist Party of Chile, built up throughout decades of effort and sacrifice by the Chilean working class that had taken her to that responsibility.

Gladys Marin and her party made no mistake; they gave all their support to Michelle Bachelet, thus determining the end of the influence of Augusto Pinochet. It was inadmissible that the tyrant who had been designed and led to power by the empire would once again rule the destiny of Chile.

World opinion loathed his conduct.

In spite of that, it has not been nor is it still, easy to undo the legal intricacies that the vengeful and fascist oligarchy, with Yankee help, bound up the Chilean nation, deserving of a better fate.

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