Shedding some light

For only the second time in the past month, the Cuban media have broadcast new video footage of Fidel Castro being visited by his old mate, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.

The two are shown for about 10 minutes or so exchanging what could only be described as inanities, with Chavez at one stage describing Castro as "Gentleman of the Heroic Resistance".

The message behind the latest footage would appear to be clear: the 80-year-old dictator is still weak and far from being in control, but there has been some improvement - at least physically.

I will leave the interpreting to others better skilled in such tasks.

Of greater interest is the fact that the video confirms yet again that despite the rhetoric, Castro remains a little capitalist at heart whose taste for the finer things in life betray his supposedly socialist ideals. The Rolex watches, the black Mercedes lumousines, the Adidas jogging suits ... And now, we discover the self-styled Great Revolutionary of our times has a Tiffany lamp by his bedside.

What the ...?