Cuban humour

It seems the grand dame of American newspaper publishing, The New York Times, has fallen for that old story about a convalescing Fidel Castro exercising on the streets of his Havana neighbourhood.

You might recall that the original source for the story was the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, a man who has what most independent observers would regard as a credibility issue.

Not that this has stopped the Times, which reports from Mexico City (that's right, Mexico City), that the semi-retired dictator has been spotted by neighbours in the Siboney area of Havana "ambling along the side of the road", followed closely by a black Mercedes.

Castro I was supposedly wearing shorts, white socks "pulled up high" and a track jacket, and surrounded by security guards.

The paper admits that there has been no confirmation of the sighting by the official Cuban media, before adding: "Some of the Havana residents who have spotted him insisted that their names, genders and even the exact day in which they saw Mr. Castro not be published to avoid running afoul of the government, which has declared Mr. Castro’s illness to be a state secret."