[Marxism] Fidel getting healthier

[Greg McDonald <sabocat59@xxxxxxx>]

Fidel Castro 'getting healthier'                

Fidel Castro, the Cuban leader, is exercising two hours daily and  
gaining weight while keeping his mind healthy with reading and  
writing, Raul, his brother and the country's acting president, has said.

Raul also said on Monday that Communist Party leaders have pledged to  
support his brother's re-election to parliament.
        
A seat in parliament is the first step in a process that would allow  
Fidel to retain his post as head of the Council of State, Cuba's  
supreme governing body.

Re-election to the parliament is scheduled for January 20.
        
Through daily exercise, Fidel "has recovered a lot of weight and  
muscle mass", Raul said to voters in Fidel's district in the eastern  
city of Santiago.

Raul said Fidel had asked him to visit voters because he was unable to.

In remarks carried on Cuban state television on Monday evening, Raul  
said his brother "has more time, he's reading more than ever. He's  
meditating more than ever and writing almost more than ever".

"His powerful mind is healthier," the acting president said.

Democratisation

Last week, Fidel, 81, suggested he would not cling to power forever,  
nor stand in the way of a younger generation.

He hinted at his political future for the first time since emergency  
intestinal surgery forced him to cede power to a "provisional"  
government headed by Raul in July 2006.

Speaking of Cuba's electoral system, Raul noted that US democracy  
pits two identical parties against one another, and joked that a  
choice between a Republican and Democrat is like choosing between  
himself and his brother Fidel.

"We could say in Cuba we have two parties: one led by Fidel and one  
led by Raul, what would be the difference?" he asked.

"That's the same thing that happens in the United States ... both are  
the same. Fidel is a little taller than me, he has a beard and I don't."

Raul scoffed at the notion Cuba needs to be more like the US, but he  
also acknowledged that the island's communist government has its  
flaws, saying that Cuba's "system has to become more democratised".

"If we only have one party that represents the interests of the  
people, where we can have differences, we should have them," he said.

"Not class clashes, but it's good to have differences," he said.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/ 
FBAA825C-71C8-4428-842B-43DEB34EB2B3.htm

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