Games they play in Havana

Less than a week before the start of government-organised celebrations to mark the postponed 80th birthday of Fidel Castro, the Cuban people continue to be kept in the dark about the real state of health of the dictator.

Much as we have come to expect.

Except that the messages coming out of Havana are getting more and more cryptic by the day.

Take the comments made by Alfredo Guevara, an old friend of Castro going back to the 1940s.

Referring to Castro’s state of health, Guevara told reporters that the “most important part of a human being, his computer, his brain, is functioning well.”

In other words, the software is OK, folks. It’s the hardware that has issues.

Then there are statements made on national television overnight by Carlos Lage, seen as the third most senior man in the regime.

Lage told Cubans that Castro “continues to get better" which is why “we are optimistic about his recovery”. But then he added that the recovery will happen “when possible and when the doctors say so.”

Hardly a positive assessment, either.