Revived Castro meets Vietnamese leader
Fidel Castro appears more vigorous in the first images of the Cuban leader to be broadcast on state television in four months, backing up reports that he has put his health crisis behind him.
Castro appeared on TV talking animatedly, standing in a track suit during a meeting with Vietnamese Communist Party chief Nong Duc Manh.
He hugged Manh warmly at the end of the two-hour meeting.
Castro, 80, has not appeared in public since emergency bowel surgery forced him to hand over power to his brother Raul Castro 10 months ago.
Castro looked healthier and more alert than in the last video images shown of him in Cuba on January 30 during a visit by his ally Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
"Vietnam is a country that we will never forget," he told Manh as he shook his hand.
Manh said Castro spoke at length about Cuba's "energy revolution" to save electricity, and they discussed the situation in Latin America.
"He was very happy. I was overcome with emotion. He spoke about many things. They were very deep," Manh said later at a meeting with Cuban Vice-President Carlos Lage.
Cuba's National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon said that Castro had almost recovered fully from several operations for an undisclosed intestinal condition that put his life at risk last year.
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