Fidel Castro appears near tears over 'friend and ally' Hugo Chavez in Cuban TV report
Fidel Castro appears near tears over 'friend and ally' Hugo Chavez in Cuban TV report
Friday, Apr 12, 2013, 9:50 IST | Place: HAVANA | Agency: Reuters
Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro looked downcast and near tears as he listened to a song about his friend and ally, the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, in a news report aired on Cuban state television on Thursday.
The unusual report, nine minutes in length on a news programme, was the first public glimpse of the impact of Chavez' death last month on the 86-year-old Castro, whom the Venezuelan socialist openly revered and considered his political father and mentor.
Castro, recorded in a rare public appearance on Wednesday for the opening of a school, put his hand over his eyes, his lips trembling, and appeared to fight back tears during the song The Return of a Friend, which he introduced as having been written and recorded by several musicians to remember Chavez.
Chavez, 58, died on March 5 in Caracas after a long battle with cancer, much of it fought in Cuba under the supervision of Cuban doctors. "Nobody thinks that he has gone, he went for a moment to mass. He will return with Sandino, with Che, Marti and Bolivar, the song went, referring to several late Latin American revolutionary figures Augusto Sandino, Ernesto "Che" Guevara, Jose Marti and Simon Bolivar whose names are often invoked in Cuba.
Long close-ups of Castro were interspersed with video of him and Chavez in their many meetings.
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