Fidel Castro silence sparks speculation on health

Cuba’s Communist Party Congress will need to choose someone to replace 84-year-old Fidel Castro as first secretary. The Associated Press

By PAUL HAVEN

Associated Press

HAVANA – It’s been more than a year since Fidel Castro burst back on the scene with a spate of public appearances and dire warnings of nuclear Armageddon. But after a flurry of activity that quieted speculation about his exit from the world stage, the Cuban revolutionary’s revival tour seems to be over.

Castro has not appeared in public since a key Communist Party meeting in April when he seemed unsteady and unusually frail. He has also virtually stopped writing his trademark opinion pieces and didn’t make a statement or release a photograph on his 85th birthday in August.

The silence has prompted the usual death rumors from Miami, propagated on exile radio and television stations and through social media sites such as Twitter. Castro’s health has even been the subject of a computer virus embedded in a spam email titled “Fidel is Dead,” which features a doctored, grainy photograph that appeared to show the Cuban leader lying in a coffin.