Cuba publishes first photos of Castro in 5 months

World Today

A man reads a copy of the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party, Granma, displaying a photo of Fidel Castro in its front page, in old Havana, Tuesday Feb. 3, 2015. Cuba has published the first photos of Fidel Castro in five months, showing the 88-year-old former leader engaged in conversation with a university student. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Cuba published the first photos of Fidel Castro in more than five months, showing the 88-year-old former leader engaged in what appears to be a lively conversation with a university student.

Nearly two dozen images were published virtually simultaneously on the websites of Cuba’s main state media outlets around midnight Monday. In them, Castro is seated and discussing current events with the head of the main Cuban student union. A first-person account by student leader Randy Perdomo Garcia says the meeting took place on Jan. 23.

The photos are the first images of the revolutionary leader since a set of photos came out in August showing him talking with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Perdomo says in a lengthy article  that he and Castro met for more than three hours in the former leader’s house after an event celebrating the 70th anniversary ofCastro starting his studies at the University of Havana.

The student leader says Castro said that he is keeping abreast of the news and performing daily exercises, and he engaged Perdomo in a wide-ranging discussion of topics including international politics, agriculture, astronomy, and even Namibia’s donation of animals to Cuba’s National Zoo.

Report was complied with information from The Associated Press