Article by Castro appears amid death rumors

An article signed by Cuban leader Fidel Castro was published on Sunday, appearing to belie an avalanche of rumors that the ailing president was dead or dying, but giving no hints at his state of health.

Writing in the first person in the piece published in the official newspaper Juventud Rebelde, Castro recalled the revolutionary events of the 1950s that took him to power and referred to a history book he had been reading.

"It brought back many memories of heroic comrades fallen" in the years leading up to the 1959 revolution which drove out former dictator Fulgencio Batista and brought the lawyer-turned-guerilla Castro to power, said the article dated August 25.

Castro underwent intestinal surgery in July 2006 and handed power over temporarily to his brother Raul.

Fidel has not been seen in public since before the operation, though he has appeared in photographs and eight videos, the last of which aired on June 5. He turned 81 on August 13 with little celebration in Cuba.

The article recalled Batista's armed coup in 1952 which prompted an unsuccessful uprising headed by Castro the following year.

"There were rumors then that I was a communist," it read. "To talk then of Leninist-Marxism, even in the early years of the Revolution, would have been foolish and dumb."

The historical musings were the second publication attributed to Castro in three days, and came amid swirling rumors among Cuban exiles and echoed by websites and foreign news outlets, especially in Florida, that he was dead.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Castro's close ally and one of the few to have visited him at his sickbed, on Saturday denied the rumors. "Those who want him to die will be frustrated, because Fidel Castro will never die," he said.

Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque on Thursday said that Fidel Castro "is steady, on track with his recovery, showing discipline, a lot of dedication and a lot of activity, writing, reading and working."

Speculation was rife on the streets of Havana, meanwhile.

"Some say that he is very ill and that it's not him writing down his thoughts," one woman, a retired nurse, told AFP.

Para Alberto, a faithful Fidel supporter who sells newspapers, was convinced the article was a sign the leader was alive. "When he dies, we Cubans will be the first to know," he said.