There Is Electricity in the Air

HAVANA (Oct. 14) – Fidel Castro made his first live appearance on Cuban airwaves since falling ill 14 months ago, sounding lucid and in good humor as he exchanged praise and jokes Sunday with the Venezuelan president.

Castro’s telephone call to a television and radio program came minutes after visiting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez aired a new videotape of their weekend meeting in which he sang revolutionary hymns to Castro and called him “father of all revolutionaries.”

“I am very touched when you sing about Che,” Castro told Chavez during his hour-long call to Chavez’s “Alo, Presidente!” program – referring to revolutionary icon Ernesto “Che” Guevara, to whom the program was dedicated.