The first public statement in almost four months from Fidel Castro appeared in Cuba’s state media, as rumours persist about the 86-year-old revolutionary icon’s health.

Castro has not been seen in public since March 28, when Pope Benedict XVI paid a landmark visit, and briefly the following week on April 5 with Chilean student leader Camila Vallejo - both appearances more than six months ago.

Health Minister Roberto Morales read out a message from Castro yesterday at Havana’s Institute of Medical Sciences, praising graduates for “honourable missions in far-off corners of the world in very difficult circumstances”.

The statement was released five days after Alex Castro, one of the ex-president’s sons, said his father is “going about his daily activities,” and “exercises, reads and stays in shape”.

Castro held onto power as 10 US Presidents took office and each after the other sought to pressure his Communist regime over the decades following his 1959 revolution, which closed a long era of Washington’s dominance over Cuba.

Castro ceded the Presidency to his younger brother Raul, 81, in July 2006 for health reasons.

Prior to yesterday, nothing had been published in Castro’s name since June 19.

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