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KATIE COURIC: Catch us up on Fidel Castro.
His existence has been kind of shrouded
in secrecy and mystery.
He's supposedly quite ill, and then photos of him appear.
I guess he was with the Venezuelan president
this weekend.
And Cuba actually published these photos on Sunday.
Can you catch us up on what is going on with Fidel Castro?
-I'll give that a try, sure.
Fidel Castro got very, very sick in 2006 with diverticulitis.
It did almost kill him.
He in 2006 stepped down, provisional power
given to his brother Raul.
And in 2008, he formally stepped down.
He has since then been writing, writing vast memoirs.
I had the opportunity to spend about a week
on and off with him in 2010 with the journalist Jeff Goldberg
and spent a great deal of time with him then.
Since then, his health, I think, has deteriorated a little bit.
But he's around.
KATIE COURIC: How old is he now, by the way?
-Almost, I would, say I think 89 this August.
KATIE COURIC: So does he wield any power?
Is he sort of the one that's pulling the strings with Raul?
-Not any longer, no.
No.
In fact, he has made it very, very clear
that he is not involved.
He wants to give his brother the space,
both for the opening with the United States, which he may not
fully embrace, and for the domestic, economic reforms
that Raul is also undertaking.