Caribbean & Central America - August 2006 (ISSN 1741-4458)

Ailing Castro hands over power
With the publication, on 14 August, of photographs showing a smiling Fidel Castro lying in his sickbed clasping the hand of President Hugo Chávez, the Cuban government has removed the last traces of doubt as to whether its leader was still alive. Nevertheless, the absence of video footage of the ailing president, the spidery handwriting of the note published alongside the photographs and the personal, valedictory tone of Fidel's message to his people have strengthened the impression that his "provisional" transfer of power looks increasingly permanent.