Still here

For the first time in over five months, Cuban television has broadcast new images of Fidel Castro, looking thinner but seemingly "animated", according to Reuters.

Since stepping down in July 2006 due to a serious medical condition that inexplicably remains a "State secret", the old dictator has made no public appearances at all, confirming that whatever ails him is indeed quite serious. Instead, he occasionally surfaces in these carefully stage-managed videos and still photographs, wearing his new "uniform" of an Adidas jogging suit in Cuba's national colours.

His rare reappearances tend to coincide with speculation in the international media that the man who ruled Cuba with an iron fist for close to half a century has died ... or is close to death or ... you know what I mean.

For the record, the last time Castro I was seen on television was back in January during a meeting with visiting Brazilian president Luis "Lula" da Silva.