Fidel: more like
a brother than a friend
FIDEL Castro is laughing, making jokes, receiving
gifts, feeling the joy of friendship and spending
more than three hours with his brother in ideas, as
highlighted by the major international press,
television and radio media, which are still
publishing features related to Fidel’s 80th birthday
and his recovery, emphasizing the footage presented
on the TV "Roundtable" program on Monday (August
14), in which the Cuban leader is shown with Hugo
Chávez Frías, president of the Bolivarian Republic
of Venezuela.
A Prensa Latina dispatch Tuesday reported that in
Hanoi the press main pages reflected the message
sent to the leader of the Revolution by Nong Duc
Manh, general secretary of the Communist Party of
Vietnam; President Nguyen Minh Triet; and Prime
Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, in which they
congratulated him on his 80th birthday and wished
him a "prompt recovery so that you can return to the
helm of the country."
In addition they informed that Cuban Finance
Minister Georgina Barreiro arrived in that nation
this Tuesday for a two-day working visit and that,
before the fist session began, Vietnamese officials
asked after the health of Fidel, whom they affirmed
is more like a brother than a friend.
In their message, Manh, Triet, and Dung declared
that Vietnam fully appreciates the exceptional
merits of the Comandante in his battle to "promote
the revolutionary cause of the sister people of Cuba
in the materialization of the legacy and aspirations
of the great thinker José Martí."
FROM ONE EXTREME TO THE OTHER
La Jornada and El Universal of
Mexico; El Universal of Venezuela; CNN; ABC;
and La Nación of Chile have also dedicated a
good part of their space to Fidel.
In Germany pages of the dailies Süddeutsche
Zeitung, Hamburguer Adendblatt,
Frankfuter Allgemeine Zeitung, Berliner
Zeitung, Reuters Germany, Neues
Deutschland, Junge Welt, Unsere Zeit,
the magazines Spiegel Online, Focus,
the news stations N-TV, ARD, N24, Bayerischer
Rundfunk, ZDF, ARTE, and others included headlines
such as: "Made of the strongest wood," "President
Fidel expressed gratitude to his people and to the
Cuban Five on his 80th birthday," "Congratulations
Fidel," "All of Cuba celebrates Fidel Castro’s
birthday," "Don’t get your hopes up; "We are
prepared for anything," "Fidel will be back soon and
different."
Meanwhile, messages continue pouring into
Granma, one of them from Río Grande do Sul in
Brazil. Tiago Ricardo Conci, a university student
wrote: "I know that there is no distance too great
for the solidarity that I am expressing. My sincere
wishes for Comandante Fidel’s recovery." In
another part of the text he assures the leader of
the Revolution that if Bush tries to attack the
island, "he will find in me someone prepared to
fight together with the Cuban people to the end to
defend the nation that I have taken as mine as well."
(SE)
