Roundup: Cuba publishes first photos of Fidel Castro in six months

Cuba's official Granma daily on Tuesday published a report with photos of Fidel Castro meeting a student leader, the first images of the former president in the past six months.

Granma published a series of 21 images of Castro, 88, accompanying a story in which Randy Perdomo, president of the Federation of University Students, recalled his conversation with the former president.

In the photos, Castro was in a blue checkered shirt, sports pants and jacket of the same color, and was accompanied by his wife, Dalia Soto, and Perdomo.

Perdomo said in the article that he spoke with Castro on Jan. 22 by phone for over 50 minutes, and a day later, Castro's drivers took him to the residence of the former leader, where they chatted for over three hours.

According to the report, they talked about life at the University of Havana, food production, and the animals donated by Namibia to the national zoo.

The student leader said they also talked about new ways to fight diseases, Cuba's contribution to the fight against Ebola, Cuba's relationship with Africa, and its contribution to the independence of these countries.

One photo shows that Castro was reading a newspaper report about the release of the last three Cuban agents imprisoned in the United States. Perdomo did not mention whether he and Castro had touched upon the restoration of relations between the two countries.

The previous release of Castro's photos was in late August 2014, when he was visited by a little admirer who collects his photos.

Castro was last seen in public on Jan. 8, 2014 when he participated in the opening of an art studio. Endi