Fidel Acts Fit As A Fiddle

By CBS News Producer Portia Siegelbaum

And the man most Cubans refer to as just Fidel, is also taking his injuries in stride and making sure no one thinks his ability to run the country is diminished.

He says the accident hasn't put him out of commission for a single moment -not even during a three hour, 15 minute operation to reconstruct his shattered left knee. According to Castro, he refused a general anesthesia so he could discuss "numerous important issues" with his chief of staff. The Cuban leader also suffered a hairline fracture in his right arm.

"I've not stopped dealing with my most important responsibilities, in coordination with all the other comrades," Castro wrote in an open letter to the nation, read over State-run television Thursday night.

The 78-year-old Castro gave a blow-by-blow description of just how he stumbled Wednesday night as he made his way back to his seat after addressing a graduation ceremony in the city of Santa Clara.

He then proceeded to describe his ambulance ride from Santa Clara to Havana, some three hours to the west, during which he used a cell phone to follow the international reaction to his accident. Castro even took a good will call from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

When Castro fell, aides rushed to lift him up and seat him on a folding chair out of sight of all but a handful of the estimated 30,000 people attending the event.

At that point, he demanded a microphone to address the crowd. His image was broadcast on two giant screens situated on either side of the plaza and startled home viewers, not all of whom were aware that something had gone wrong. The faces of people at the activity reflected consternation and shock. A few people could be seen crying.

Cubans like academic Olga Fernandez, who'd been watching the graduation on national television, felt his effort to personally explain what happened was one more display of Castro's "courage and integrity."

Expressing a similar opinion is American dancer and long-time resident in Cuba, Lorna Burdsal, who has personally know Castro since 1969.

"He's an old war horse who never stops going no matter what happens," she said approvingly.

Grocery store clerk Samuel Garcia said, "We could see him sweating profusely as he spoke and my wife, who's a doctor, told me that was a sign of great pain."

Cuban television viewers have still not seen Castro's fall, although footage shot by international news agencies is being shown widely on U.S. television. Many Cubans however, have seen photos of the incident on Yahoo and other popular Internet web sites.

Castro's first public mishap, in June 2001, was a fainting spell that occurred after he'd been speaking to a rally for several hours under a blistering sun. That incident, his first major display of frailty, led to the limited curtailment of his public appearances and gave rise to widespread speculation about the true state of his health.

But Cuban-American scholar Nelson Valdes believes the U.S. media should pay more attention to the content of Castro's speeches rather than the state of his kneecaps.

"Despite the physical problem," says Valdes who closely follows events in his country of birth, "Castro has never had weak 'political' knees," outliving more U.S. administrations "than Americans can name."

A different view was expressed by State Department spokesman Richard Boucher. Boucher responded "No" when asked if he wished Castro a speedy recovery. Expressing concern about the situation in Cuba, not Castro's health, he said, "We think the kind of rule that Cuba has had should be ended."

Judging from his post-accident pronouncements, however, Castro is determined both to project an image of strength and to stay firmly in charge of affairs in this nation of 11.5 million inhabitants.