Fidel Castro, In Rare Public Appearance, Is 'Full Of Vitality'

[Purveyor]

By Patrick Oppmann, CNN

Updated 8:02 PM ET, Sat April 4, 2015

Havana, Cuba (CNN)Cuban state media Saturday released images of a rare public appearance by former leader Fidel Castro, who met with a group of Venezuelans who were on a solidarity mission to the island.

It is the first time the ailing Castro appeared in public in more than a year.

"Fidel is full of vitality," the Juventud Rebelde newspaper exclaimed. Castro, 88, has made infrequent appearances following a mystery intestinal ailment that nearly killed him in 2006.

The newspaper showed pictures Castro shaking hands with a crowd of people sticking their hands through the window of a bus where he was sitting.

The "chance meeting," Juventud Rebelde said, took place on March 30 at a primary school in Havana that a group of 33 Venezuelans were visiting when Castro arrived.