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Granma, February 3, 2015

HAVANA Cuba’s Communist Party newspaper Granma has published the first photos of Fidel Castro in months, amid rumors that the health of the 88-year-old former Cuban leader has recently deteriorated.

Granma“s front page Tuesday reads “More than three hours with Fidel.” In an article entitled Fidel es un fuera de serie (“Fidel is one of a kind”), the state-run newspaper features a gallery of 21 photos showing Castro in his trademark tracksuit, to illustrate his discussion with Randy Perdomo García, the head of the Federation of University Students at the University of Havana.

The photos of the meeting, which reportedly took place on Jan. 23, are the first to surface since August — and will likely quiet down weeks of speculation as to whether Castro had died. The former leader had not been seen in pubic since January 2014.

ABOUT THE SOURCE: Founded in 1965, Havana-based Granma is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party.

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