Castro speaks live for first time since July 2006

HAVANA, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Cuban leader Fidel Castro spoke by telephone on Sunday with his visiting Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez, his first live appearance on Cuban airwaves since July 2006. "The world is filling with Vietnams today facing up to a tyrannical power" of the United States, Castro told Chavez in the latter's weekly television and radio program Alo Presidente.

Castro signed off by saying that he had to take a pill, claiming "we are winning."

"There is electricity in the air," Chavez said, which means everyone was electrified to hear Castro.

The show, broadcast from the eastern Cuban city of Santa Clara, also aired a 17-minute documentary of Saturday's four-hour Castro-Chavez meeting.

Castro, 81, appeared fragile but alert in the video, in which he discussed the Argentine guerrilla leader Ernesto Guevara, better known by his nickname Che, a key figure in the 1959 Cuban revolution.

"The ideas of the revolution have been sown all across Latin America, and today's circumstances are more susceptible than ever for these ideas to sprout for the revolution that Che Guevara spoke of," said Castro in a red, white and blue track suit while sitting on a cushion in an armchair.

Chavez's program commemorated the 40th anniversary of Guevara’s death. Born in 1928 in Argentina, Guevara was one of Castro's most important commanders during Cuba's 1959 revolution. Later he gave up his high position in Cuba to become a guerrilla fighter in Bolivia. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency helped launch a Bolivian military operation in 1967 in which Guevara was captured and executed.

In 1995, the Cuban government said it had found Guevara's remains, which were returned to Cuba and buried in 1997.

During the program, Chavez described Castro as "sowing consciousness and of new times", saying that "we have a commitment to continue sowing, resowing, harvesting and pushing for the salvation of humanity."

Chavez said that humanity is faced with a choice between Socialism or barbarity.

After the meeting, Chavez said Castro has recovered. "He is in good spirits and has a very good color."

Castro was last seen in public in July last year, when he temporarily handed over his power to Defense Minister Raul Castro to undergo an intestinal surgery.

The show was broadcast live from Ernesto Guevara Place, where Guevara's bones are kept in a gigantic mausoleum. Also with Chavezon the show were Cuban high-ranking officials including Vice President Carlos Lage Davila, Information Minister Ramiro Valdes Menendez and Foreign Minister Felipe Ramon Perez Roque. Guevara's widow and four children were also present.

Chavez arrived in Cuba on Friday for an official visit. He is expected to meet Cuba's interim leader Raul Castro on Monday.