Meeting with Fidel Castro highlight of visit to Cuba: Ansari

Fidel Castro is "fit and in good shape", Vice President Hamid Ansari said today after a meeting with the revolutionary icon which he described as the "highlight" of his visit to Cuba.
"When a man talks to you for 65 minutes, obviously he is fit. His health is well compared to his 87 years. He is frail, but his mental faculty is strong," he said after a rare bilateral visit to Havana by any Indian VVIP.
"I had hoped that the meeting will be of 20-25 minutes. But it lasted one hour and five minutes. (It shows Castro) is in good shape and aware of what is happening around the world. His views have been the same they were for the last five decades."

Ansari said he was informed about the meeting only yesterday morning and the Cuban leadership "crafted it well" since Castro is no longer in public life and living as a "self recluse".
The meeting was not an official engagement but a "social call". He said Castro, who is undoubtedly the leader of the Cuban revolution, talked to him about gardening and horticulture.
Speaking with reporters accompanying him as he travelled to the UK after completing visits to Peru and Cuba, Ansari said Castro was concerned about the stockpiling of weapons and dangers faced by the world due to "accidents" in such a situation.

Asked when he had last met Castro, Ansari recalled that it was in 1983 during the NAM Summit in Delhi. At the time, he was the Chief of Protocol for the event.