[NYTr] 3 Reports on Fidel's Appearance on Chavez's "Alo Presidente"

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

[The Anita Snow AP report is slightly longer than the one published by
the Christian Science Monitor. The others are Bloomberg and AFP -NYTr]

Bloomberg - October 14, 2007
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=ai8z7UPPoLug

Fidel Castro Speaks Live by Phone on Chavez TV Show

By Steven Bodzin

Cuban President Fidel Castro spoke by phone for more than an hour today
with Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez on Chavez's weekly television
program ``Alo Presidente.''

Castro and Chavez, broadcasting from Cuba to mark the 40th anniversary
of the death of revolutionary Ernesto ``Che'' Guevara, spoke about the
history of the Cuban revolution, political theory and relations between
the two countries.

Chavez, who refers to his ideology as ``21st century socialism,''
called the communist Castro ``my teacher.'' The two are critical of
U.S. policy in Latin America, saying the superpower has suppressed
popular rule.

Castro has faced repeated U.S. attempts to overthrow or kill him.
Chavez says the U.S. played a role in a 2002 coup attempt, an
accusation the U.S. has denied.

Castro, 81, is recuperating from surgery. His health has been a subject
of speculation since he handed over daily tasks to his brother Raul in
July 2006.

Castro, whose voice cracked at times, responded quickly to Chavez and
said that he gave the audience ``a strong hug.''

The two discussed the possibility of building a petrochemical plant,
fertilizer factory and liquefied natural gas facility at Cienfuegos,
Cuba, where state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA is renovating
an oil refinery.

Castro appeared on Cuban television Sept. 22 to dismiss rumors of his
death, the Associated Press reported. Today's conversation was the
leader's first live appearance since February, the wire service said.

In addition to the live conversation, the show carried a 17- minute
videotape of a talk between the two leaders. The two met for four hours
yesterday, according to Venezuela's state-run TeleSUR network.

Chavez said that Guevara's ideas live on in an ``axis of hope'' from
Caracas to Bolivia, where Guevara was killed in 1967. Cuba's influence
is strong in Bolivia, Brazil, Venezuela and parts of Chile and
Argentina, especially among indigenous people, he said. 

                             ***

AP via The Washington Post - October 14, 2007
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/14/AR2007101400538.html


Castro, Chavez Chat in Live Broadcast

By Anita Snow
The Associated Press

HAVANA -- Fidel Castro made his first live appearance on Cuban airwaves
since falling ill 14 months ago, sounding lucid and in good humor as he
exchanged praise and jokes Sunday with the Venezuelan president.

Castro's telephone call to a television and radio program came minutes
after visiting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez aired a new videotape
of their weekend meeting in which he sang revolutionary hymns to Castro
and called him "father of all revolutionaries."

"I am very touched when you sing about Che," Castro told Chavez during
his hour-long call to Chavez's "Alo, Presidente!" program _ referring
to revolutionary icon Ernesto "Che" Guevara, to whom the program was
dedicated.

"There is electricity in the air," Chavez said, obviously pleased with
Castro's call.

Castro, who has not appeared in public since falling ill in July 2006,
made his last live media appearance in February with a phone call to
Chavez's radio program broadcast from Venezuela. But there was a
half-hour delay before that program was broadcast in Cuba.

On the videotape, reportedly made during a meeting of more than four
hours Saturday afternoon, Chavez also gave Castro a painting he said he
made while imprisoned in the early 1990s after leading a failed coup.

The dark-colored painting showed the bars of his cell and a night scene
beyond, with a full red moon and a guard tower in the distance.

Castro told him he needed to sign his work. "No one knows the merit
that this has, that you did this!"

Cuban state television was broadcasting Chavez's program live from
Santa Clara, where the communist government last week commemorated the
40th anniversary of Guevara's death.

Chavez toured the museum below the towering statue of Guevara, which
also contains a mausoleum housing Guevara's remains.

Earlier Sunday, Cuban state media released two new official photos of
the men together, but provided no details about the ailing Cuban
leader's health.

In both the video and the photographs, Castro wore the red, white and
blue track suit that has become his typical dress during his
convalescence. Both men sat in bamboo chairs at an undisclosed
location. Although Castro looks older and his gray beard has thinned
considerably, he appears lucid and animated as he thumbs through a copy
of Guevara's "Bolivian Diary" and the pair discuss the revolutionary's
life and legacy.

Both men seemed mindful that the leadership of Latin America's left is
being passed from one generation to another, with Chavez calling Castro
"the father of all revolutionaries in this America" in the video.

"Our father, who is in the water, earth and air," Chavez said in an
almost religious tone that evoked the Lord's Prayer.

"You will never die," Chavez told Castro. "You remain forever on this
continent and with these nations, and this revolution .... is more
alive today than ever, and Fidel, you know it, we will take charge of
continuing to fan the flame."

The last official image of Castro was a photograph released late last
month, showing him looking more robust than in some past pictures as he
stood and greeted Angolan President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos.

Chavez has visited the 81-year-old Castro several times since the Cuban
leader underwent emergency intestinal surgery in late July 2006 and
ceded authority to his younger brother Raul.

                             ***

Agence France Presse via Google - October 15, 2007
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5izhF-6PHN7-wG8KJfoYN0oGD92iA

Long-absent Castro speaks live on TV

SANTA CLARA, Cuba (AFP) ? Cubans heard their ailing President Fidel
Castro joking and chattering as he spoke live for the first time in
months on a television show hosted by his Venezuelan ally Hugo Chavez.

In his first live broadcast in Cuba since he was sidelined by an
unspecified illness 15 months ago, Castro spoke by telephone for an
hour and 22 minutes on a variety of topics, including the state of his
health and the challenges of life in the shadow of the United States.

"Everyone is electrified to hear you," Chavez told the convalescing
Cuban leader on his program "Hello Mr. President," broadcast for five
hours Sunday in both Cuba and Venezuela.

Castro has kept out of sight since undergoing intestinal surgery and
ceding power to his brother Raul in July 2006, communicating through
regular articles in the communist regime's official newspapers.

He took part in an earlier broadcast of Chavez's program by phone in
February, but that aired live only in Venezuela.

This time, however, he went to great lengths to persuade fellow Cubans
and other viewers his appearance was genuine.

"I can see you are moving your left hand, and I know you are
left-handed. And now I can see you laughing," Castro said to Chavez, to
persuade skeptics that the broadcast was indeed live.

Apparently to the same end, the two discussed the most recent oil
prices and joked about their joint foe, US President George W. Bush.

"This gentleman crosses to the other side of the street when he sees
me," Castro said of Bush.

"He is too powerful to speak with the devil, with an axis of evil. And
you, Hugo, and I represent an axis of evil," he added, using a term
Bush once applied to certain rogue states.

"Don't even think of mentioning to anybody, not even as a joke, that I
speak to Lucifer," the Cuban leader concluded.

Switching to a more serious tone, he argued with satisfaction that "the
tyrannical power" -- a term he usually reserves for the United States
-- "is now facing new multiple Vietnams."

The Venezuelan president underscored ever closer ties between his
country and Cuba, saying: "Deep down, we are one government."

Chavez later proposed building a petrochemical plant in the southern
central Cuban city of Cienfuegos, where he traveled after the show. He
said he would discuss it with Raul Castro at a meeting on Monday.

Venezuela is a key trading partner and oil supplier to Cuba, which has
been under a tight embargo by the United States for more than 40 years.
A 1.4 billion-dollar oil refinery renovated with its help is to open in
Cienfuegos in December.

Earlier in the show, Chavez showed a new video of Castro recorded
during a four-hour meeting between them Saturday. Castro, dressed in a
red, blue and white sports suit, was shown chatting with Chavez.

The official communist newspaper Juventud Rebelde on Sunday published
photographs from the meeting.

One showed the 81-year-old Castro seated next to Chavez and leafing
through a book with a picture of the revolutionary icon Ernesto "Che"
Guevara on its cover. The other showed him standing, shaking hands with
Chavez.

Chavez was broadcasting the show from Cuba to mark the 40th anniversary
this week of the arrest and execution of Guevara, Castro's
comrade-in-arms during the revolutionary struggle that brought him to
power in 1959.

As in previous appearances, Castro -- who last month was briefly
rumored to be dead -- appeared frail but apparently recovered to some
degree from his illness.

"As you have seen in the pictures, Fidel is in very good spirits and
has lots of color ... his beard is well trimmed, he has immeasurable
spirit and mystique," Chavez said.

After admitting he was on medication, Castro signed off from the phone
call with the words, "always, all the way to victory."

This revolutionary exhortation was the signoff used by Che in his
letters, later adopted by Fidel to encourage Cubans during his
government's resistance to US political pressures.