Little Old Dictator Fall Down Go Boom

Fidel Castro took a tumble down some steps this week while being shown live on state-run telivision...(they couldn't deny that one!) He broke his arm and leg, pity it wasn't his neck!


HAVANA (AFP) - President Fidel Castro (news - web sites), Cuba's leader for more than 45 years, broke his left knee and right arm in a fall, but urged the Caribbean country's 11 million people to stay calm, the government said.

Castro, 78, tripped and fell as he walked down some steps from a stage on Wednesday night after giving an hour-long speech at a graduation ceremony. The incident was shown live on Cuban television.

"The medical exam confirmed what the commander in chief himself anticipated, that after his accidental fall at yesterday's ceremony there is a fracture in his left knee and a fissure in the upper part of the humerus of the right arm, which will be treated appropriately," it added.
It also underscored that Castro "is in a good general state of health and his spirits are excellent."

The Cuban government, still in Cold War mode because of hostile relations with the United States, normally treats the medical condition of its leader as a state secret. Castro joked about seeing pictures of himself on the floor in Thursday's international media and voiced confidence he would again make front-page news all over the world.

In Miami, home to about 800,000 Cuban-Americans, many staunch Castro foes, had had higher hopes for Castro's tumble. "I'm happy he got a good fall," said Guillermo Novo, laughing, at the Versailles restaurant in Miami's Little Havana, a favored meeting spot for Cuban exiles. "I'm only sorry he did not get really badly hurt."

"We've been looking forward to Castro's fall for years but this isn't what we had in mind," quipped one State Department official in Washington.