Results tagged “fidelcastro”

Footage of Fidel Castro was released yesterday, showing the former Cuban president visiting with Venezulan President Hugo Chavez and his young brother Raul Castro, who now rules Cuba. Per CBS News:

A thin but animated Castro, dressed in an open-neck track suit over pajamas, is seen in a spirited conversation with the other two men in an unidentified garden setting. There is no audio, but the government news anchor said the three were discussing the global food crisis and the U.S. elections, among other issues.

Last month, the 81-year-old Castro wrote an editorial for Cuban newspaper Granma (reprinted by the Guardian) essentially supporting Barack Obama, noting the presidential candidate's progressiveness, but also criticized him, "Were I to defend him, I would do his adversaries a favour. I have therefore no reservations about criticising him and expressing myself frankly."

Cuban president Fidel Castro resigned his position after nearly 50 years of rule. The 81-year-old Castro has been battling illness since 2006, notably turning over power to his brother Raul and other ministers temporarily. Though he was still ruling after his 2006 surgery, Castro was little seen. Now it is expected that Castro's resignation positions Raul Castro, 76, in line for the presidency.

A Brad Downey sculpture in Greenpoint, by Tod Seelie, who has pix of a couple of more at his site.

Even as the stores sport back to school sales (which depress us, even now), summer lingers on your friends the -ists. This week's collection of links provides some of the best, worst, and oddest bits of summer fun. So, bring your laptop up onto the roof, make yourself an umbrella drink or ten, and enjoy this week's choice posts from across the Gothamist network.

- Being a famous director who had an emotionally wrenching trial with an ex who is the mother of the current squeeze (but Woody Allen did show up, wearing a Fidel Castro cap and fatigues)