Castro Declared Fit for 2008 Re-Election Run

[Jimmy2]

Castro Declared Fit for 2008 Re-Election Run

By WILL WEISSERT

AP

HAVANA (March 16) - Fidel Castro will be in "perfect shape" to run for re-election to parliament next spring, the first step toward securing yet another term as Cuba's president, National Assembly head Ricardo Alarcon said Thursday.

"I would nominate him," said Alarcon, the highest-ranking member of parliament. "I'm sure he will be in perfect shape to continue handling his responsibilities."

Mobbed by foreign reporters following a parliamentary session to discuss Cuba's upcoming elections, Alarcon said Castro "is doing fine and continuing to focus on recovery and rehabilitation."

A lengthy process of nominating candidates for municipal elections will begin this summer, leading to several rounds of voting. Then, by March 2008, Cuba should be ready to hold parliamentary elections that are expected to include Castro, Alarcon said.

The 80-year-old Castro was the world's longest-ruling head of state, occupying the island's presidency for 47 years before temporarily stepping aside in favor of his younger brother, Raul, following emergency intestinal surgery in July.

Alarcon said he has been in contact with Castro many times in recent weeks, but stopped short of saying he has seen him in person. He said that even though Castro ceded power to his 75-year-old brother, he never "abandoned his role."

"Fidel has been and is very involved, very connected, very active in all manner of important decisions that this country makes," Alarcon said. "What's happening is, he can't do it the same way he did before because he has to dedicate a good part of his time to recuperating physically."

He wouldn't say whether Raul Castro will remain acting president if his brother becomes well enough to return to work full-time.

Things in Cuba have remained calm and functioned normally under Raul Castro. Though Fidel has not appeared in public, he has sounded lucid and up on current events in a pair of recent telephone conversations with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

After earlier post-surgery photos had shown him looking sick and weak, images on state television in late January revealed a stronger and healthier seeming Castro.

Although Castro temporarily ceded his functions to his brother, he still holds the title of president of the Council of State, Cuba's supreme governing body.

[El Presidente]

» Castro Declared Fit for 2008 Re-Election Run

» By WILL WEISSERT

» AP

»

That's great news!!!

Seriously, all the best and get well soon. Regardless of what you may hear...you are being missed. It was just the other day that Kim Jong-il and Rob Mugabe were catching up and saying that life is not just the same with only two psychopath dictators in the world.

[greenpimp]

And I am fit to run in the marathon this year! Hung over with cigar in mouth!

[skindiver]

» » Castro Declared Fit for 2008 Re-Election Run

» » By WILL WEISSERT

» » AP

» »

»

»

» That's great news!!!

»

» Seriously, all the best and get well soon. Regardless of what you may

» hear...you are being missed. It was just the other day that Kim Jong-il

» and Rob Mugabe were catching up and saying that life is not just the same

» with only two psychopath dictators in the world.

We're gonna mount Jimmy Carter on top of Trigger when Fidel goes,too!

[Cam]

theres nothing stopping him is there..