Havana – Talking at length, grinning for cameras and even cracking jokes, Fidel Castro looked stronger and more vibrant Sunday as the first TV images of the ailing Cuban leader in four months appeared to confirm official reports he is feeling better.
The 2 1/2-minute clip appears to show Castro in the same red track suit with black and white trim that he wore in past official images. At times, the 80-year-old shakes his fist and waggles a finger for effect while talking to Vietnamese Communist Party chief Nong Duc Manh, who met with him Saturday.
Manh invited the convalescing leader to visit Vietnam’s capital of Hanoi. Castro visited the Asian country in 1973, when the U.S. was backing South Vietnam in a war with the Communist north, which eventually won.
Castro was enthusiastically clapping at the end of the segment.
Castro has not been seen in public since he announced last July 31 that he had undergone emergency intestinal surgery and was temporarily ceding power to his brother Raul, the defense minister. He is widely believed to suffer from diverticular disease.
Raul Castro turned 76 on Sunday, but it was unclear how he spent his birthday.
