Fidel Castro to Cubans - Keep me in the loop

Fidel Castro to Cubans: Keep me in the loop
By Patrick Oppmann, CNN
June 3, 2014 -- Updated 2319 GMT (0719 HKT)

Havana, Cuba (CNN) -- Former Cuban President Fidel Castro published a
thinly-veiled complaint Tuesday that he is not being kept up to date on
happenings in Cuba.
In a short note signed by Castro, 87, on the front page of the Cuban
communist party daily Granma, Castro lamented that he was tardy in
paying his respects at the passing of Eugenio George, the longtime coach
of Cuba's female volleyball team. George, 81, died Saturday and was
buried the next day, according to Castro's note.
"Many comrades noticed the absence of a floral arrangement from us,"
Castro wrote. "I always admired him but did not know of his passing
until some hours later."
During his 47 years in power, Castro was famous for his marathon
speeches and micromanagement of Cuba's economy and international affairs.
But following a still-undisclosed intestinal illness in 2006, Castro was
forced to step down, eventually being replaced by his brother Raul as
President in 2008.
Absent from public view for months at a time, Castro briefly returned to
the spotlight in 2012 when he began to publish short "reflections"
columns in the Cuban state press.
But Castro stopped publishing the columns, which detailed varied topics
such as the former leader's interest in yoga and medicinal plants, after
he said he no longer had time to write.
Castro is still referred to as "the historic leader" of the Cuban
revolution by the island's state-run press and government officials say
he is consulted before major decisions are taken.
But in May, Bolivian President Evo Morales, a close ally to Cuba, told
the Spanish language edition of the magazine Vanity Fair that Castro
"isn't aware of what's going on any more."

Source: Fidel Castro to Cubans: Keep me in the loop - CNN.com -
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/06/03/world/americas/castro-complains-cuba/