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Castro sounds like old self in editorial

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published March 30, 2007

HAVANA - Fidel Castro signaled Thursday he is itching to return to public life after eight months of illness that kept him out of sight, lambasting U.S. biofuel policies in a front-page newspaper editorial.

But Castro's attack in the Communist Party daily left unanswered what role he will play in government, and when he might appear again in public.

The 80-year-old revolutionary asserted that President Bush's support for using crops to produce ethanol for cars could deplete corn and other food stocks in developing nations, putting 3-billion people at risk.

Unlike several messages signed by Castro since he fell ill, this one did not try to dispel rumors about his health and didn't even mention he has been sick.

"This shows a more aware and lucid Castro than that suggested by the wan pictures we've seen over the past few months," said Wayne Smith, the top U.S. diplomat in Havana from 1979 to 1982.

"My own take is that this does not presage some early return to power," Smith said. "Rather, it is a matter of Castro wanting to get his 2 cents in about a subject he cares much about."

Castro's condition and exact ailment remain secret, but he is widely believed to suffer from diverticular disease, a weakening of the walls of the colon.

He temporarily ceded on July 31 his presidential functions to his 75-year-old brother, Defense Minister Raul Castro.

Some observers think he will resume the presidency, but others think it more likely he will take on a less physically demanding post as elder statesman, weighing in on international issues while Raul Castro and a new collective leadership handle domestic affairs.

[Last modified March 30, 2007, 01:20:38]