No show

So, just how sick is Fidel Castro, I hear you ask?

Obviously, Castro is well enough to write those increasingly erratic and totally apocalyptic "articles" for Granma, the official newspaper of the Communist Party.

And he is well enough to be allowed to have his picture taken every now and then with visiting dignitaries.

But he is still not well enough to be allowed out in public - not even for a brief appearance at the May Day rally held in Havana yesterday.

Despite the feverish speculation in the international media over the past few days about Castro's imminent return to the spotlight, the 80-year-old dictator was a no show at the Plaza de la Revolucion.

Still, you have to admire the ability of those hard-working foreign correspondents in Havana to get to the bottom of the story.

Like this Reuters yarn, which quotes at length the views of a number of supposedly ordinary Cubans when asked about Castro's absence from proceedings.

“I had hoped to see him," Zoraida Gonzalez, who is described as a 73-year-old retiree, told reporter Anthony Boadle. "But even though he is not here, he is still with us. The important thing is that he gets better."

Of course.