What are the common inflammatory eye conditions associated with rheumatic diseases. How do these conditions affect vision and quality of life. What are the current treatment options and management strategies for inflammatory eye conditions in rheumatic diseases. How can early detection and intervention improve outcomes for patients with rheumatic eye diseases.

Overview of Inflammatory Eye Conditions in Rheumatic Diseases

Inflammatory eye conditions are a significant complication of many rheumatic diseases, potentially leading to vision impairment and reduced quality of life. These ocular manifestations can occur in various forms and severities, affecting different parts of the eye.

The most common rheumatic diseases associated with ocular inflammation include:

• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis
• Sjögren’s syndrome
• Systemic lupus erythematosus
• Ankylosing spondylitis

Understanding these conditions is crucial for both rheumatologists and ophthalmologists to provide comprehensive care to patients with rheumatic diseases.

Uveitis: A Major Concern in Rheumatic Eye Diseases

Uveitis, inflammation of the uveal tract, is a significant ocular manifestation in rheumatic diseases. It can be classified based on the anatomical location of inflammation:

• Anterior uveitis (iritis)
• Intermediate uveitis
• Posterior uveitis
• Panuveitis

Anterior uveitis is the most common form in rheumatic diseases, particularly in juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. How does anterior uveitis affect patients? It can cause symptoms such as eye pain, redness, photophobia, and blurred vision. If left untreated, it may lead to complications like cataracts, glaucoma, and vision loss.

Uveitis in Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis

Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) presents a unique challenge in terms of ocular inflammation. The uveitis associated with JRA is often asymptomatic in its early stages, making regular screening crucial. What factors influence the prognosis of uveitis in JRA? Studies have identified several prognostic factors:

• Age at onset of arthritis
• Gender
• ANA (antinuclear antibody) positivity
• Duration of uveitis

Early detection and prompt treatment are essential in preventing vision-threatening complications in children with JRA-associated uveitis.

Keratoconjunctivitis Sicca and Sjögren’s Syndrome

Keratoconjunctivitis sicca, or dry eye syndrome, is a common ocular manifestation in rheumatic diseases, particularly in Sjögren’s syndrome. This condition results from decreased tear production or increased tear evaporation, leading to ocular surface inflammation and damage.

Sjögren’s syndrome is an autoimmune disorder characterized by dry eyes and dry mouth. In the context of ocular involvement, it can be classified as:

• Primary Sjögren’s syndrome: occurs independently
• Secondary Sjögren’s syndrome: associated with other rheumatic diseases

How does Sjögren’s syndrome affect the eyes? It can cause symptoms such as burning, itching, foreign body sensation, and blurred vision. In severe cases, it may lead to corneal ulceration and scarring.

Diagnosis and Management of Keratoconjunctivitis Sicca

Diagnosing keratoconjunctivitis sicca involves a combination of clinical assessment and specialized tests. These may include:

• Schirmer’s test
• Tear film break-up time
• Ocular surface staining
• Tear osmolarity measurement

Management strategies focus on alleviating symptoms and protecting the ocular surface. Treatment options range from artificial tears and lubricants to more advanced therapies like punctal plugs and topical immunomodulators.

Scleritis and Episcleritis in Rheumatic Diseases

Scleritis and episcleritis are inflammatory conditions affecting the outer coat of the eye. While episcleritis is generally benign and self-limiting, scleritis can be vision-threatening and is often associated with systemic rheumatic diseases.

What are the key differences between scleritis and episcleritis?

• Scleritis: Involves deeper layers of the eye, causes severe pain, and can lead to vision loss
• Episcleritis: Affects superficial layers, causes mild discomfort, and usually resolves without complications

Rheumatoid arthritis is the most common rheumatic disease associated with scleritis. Other conditions that can cause scleritis include granulomatosis with polyangiitis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and relapsing polychondritis.

Management of Scleritis in Rheumatic Diseases

Treatment of scleritis often requires a multidisciplinary approach involving both rheumatologists and ophthalmologists. The management strategy depends on the underlying cause and severity of inflammation. Treatment options may include:

• Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)
• Corticosteroids (topical, oral, or intravenous)
• Immunosuppressive agents
• Biologic therapies

Early and aggressive treatment is crucial in preventing vision-threatening complications such as scleral thinning, perforation, or optic nerve involvement.

Peripheral Ulcerative Keratitis: A Sight-Threatening Complication

Peripheral ulcerative keratitis (PUK) is a rare but potentially devastating ocular manifestation of rheumatic diseases. It is characterized by crescent-shaped corneal thinning and ulceration near the limbus.

PUK is most commonly associated with rheumatoid arthritis but can also occur in other systemic vasculitides. Why is PUK considered a medical emergency? If left untreated, it can rapidly progress to corneal perforation and loss of vision.

Diagnosis and Management of Peripheral Ulcerative Keratitis

Prompt diagnosis and treatment are crucial in managing PUK. The diagnostic approach includes:

• Detailed ocular examination
• Corneal imaging (e.g., optical coherence tomography)
• Systemic workup to identify underlying rheumatic disease

Treatment of PUK requires aggressive immunosuppression to control both ocular and systemic inflammation. Management strategies may include:

• High-dose systemic corticosteroids
• Immunosuppressive agents (e.g., cyclophosphamide, methotrexate)
• Biologic therapies (e.g., rituximab, infliximab)
• Surgical intervention in cases of impending perforation

Collaboration between rheumatologists and ophthalmologists is essential for optimal management of PUK.

Immunosuppressive Therapy in Ocular Inflammation

Immunosuppressive therapy plays a crucial role in managing severe or refractory ocular inflammation associated with rheumatic diseases. The goal of immunosuppression is to control inflammation, prevent vision loss, and minimize the side effects of long-term corticosteroid use.

What factors should be considered when initiating immunosuppressive therapy? The decision to start immunosuppressive treatment should be based on:

• Severity and chronicity of ocular inflammation
• Risk of vision loss
• Presence of systemic disease
• Patient’s overall health and comorbidities

Commonly Used Immunosuppressive Agents

Several immunosuppressive agents are used in the management of ocular inflammation. These include:

• Antimetabolites (e.g., methotrexate, mycophenolate mofetil)
• T-cell inhibitors (e.g., cyclosporine, tacrolimus)
• Alkylating agents (e.g., cyclophosphamide)
• Biologic agents (e.g., adalimumab, rituximab)

The choice of agent depends on the underlying disease, severity of inflammation, and patient-specific factors. Regular monitoring for potential side effects and drug toxicity is essential during immunosuppressive therapy.

Screening and Monitoring of Ocular Inflammation in Rheumatic Diseases

Regular screening and monitoring of ocular inflammation are crucial in patients with rheumatic diseases. Early detection and prompt treatment can prevent vision-threatening complications and improve long-term outcomes.

How often should patients with rheumatic diseases undergo ocular screening? The frequency of screening depends on several factors:

• Type of rheumatic disease
• Presence of known ocular involvement
• Risk factors for ocular complications
• Current treatment regimen

For example, children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis require more frequent screening due to the high risk of asymptomatic uveitis.

Recommended Screening Protocols

Screening protocols for ocular inflammation in rheumatic diseases typically include:

• Regular comprehensive eye examinations
• Slit-lamp examination
• Intraocular pressure measurement
• Dilated fundus examination
• Additional tests as needed (e.g., optical coherence tomography, fluorescein angiography)

Collaboration between rheumatologists and ophthalmologists is essential for developing and implementing effective screening and monitoring strategies.

In conclusion, inflammatory eye conditions associated with rheumatic diseases present significant challenges in diagnosis and management. A multidisciplinary approach involving rheumatologists, ophthalmologists, and other specialists is crucial for optimal patient care. Early detection, prompt treatment, and regular monitoring are key to preventing vision loss and improving quality of life for patients with rheumatic eye diseases.

Inflammatory conditions of the eye associated with rheumatic diseases

Typewriters and the Vietnam War

Having by now developed an eagle eye for typewriters appearing on screens both big and small, I was surprised to see this image pop up on an Australian commercial TV network on Sunday night, during an interesting program on Vietnam War veterans seeking to return personal items to the families of fallen North Vietnamese soldiers.
Surprised because, for reasons I cannot explain, images of typewriters related to the Vietnam War aren’t all that common. Indeed, if one keys in “Vietnam War+typewriter” in a Google images search, the first one that appears is one from my own blog. This is a photograph taken by a friend of mine, Peter Crossing, during a visit to Vietnam 2½ years ago, and is of a Voss portable used by Ngo Ba Thanh (“The Rose in the BarbwireForest“)
(1931-2004). It is now on display in the Hanoi Women’s Museum. See the post here.

Now back to this post: A day after I first posted it (September 18, 2013), a reader sent me these images he had snapped of a Vietnamese keyboard Olympia Splendid 66 portable “used in the field” by the Viet Cong. It is on display in the Hồ Chí Minh City Museum, where its history is described:

Still, compared to the Korean War or either of the two World Wars, there seems to a strange shortage of Vietnam War images which involve typewriters. Here are some others, including two of US Women’s Army Corps members (one with a Remington with a wingspan almost as wide as Rob Bowker’s Adler) and a series of Associated Press correspondent George Esper (at the Underwood) with AP bureau chiefs in Saigon in 1972:

As well, there is this February 1967 image of French freelance photographer Michèle Ray  (later movie producer Michèle Ray-Gavras, also see here), who had been captured near Bong Son by the Viet Cong. She is seen recuperating with the aid of her Antares Domus portable typewriter in a private hospital:

Ray with her Renault.

Zalin Grant looks under Ray’s Renault after she had been captured and the car was booby-trapped.

Ray was the first journalist to be captured in Vietnam. She arrived there in 1966, a former Chanel model who had made a name for herself in France by driving
from the tip of South America to Alaska. The
Viet Cong treated her well and she was converted to their cause. In later life, Ray recovered Che Guevara‘s diary in Bolivia and gave it to Fidel Castro. There is a very interesting story about her and other Vietnam war correspondentshere. However, there is not a typewriter in sight on this post.

From LIFE magazine, February 1967

Ray soon after her release. Another typewriter, an Olivetti, can be seen in the background.

Why? Well, the caption on top of the LIFE magazine article about Ray might explain something. It quotes Ray as saying Americans never left Saigon for the DMZ by road (I have heard similar stories from the Six-Day War. I have also been told that Vietnam was the first war in which correspondents were deliberately kept away from the war zones and fed “official” information from a distance.). So is it because, unlike Korea and the two World Wars, war correspondents in Vietnam didn’t get that close with typewriters to the front lines? Cameras were abundantly seen, but not typewriters. The typewriters that were seen, at least from the US point of view, were in offices in Saigon or other relatively safe havens in the south.

Another painting from the collection now held by the Operation Wandering Souls project team in Australia, which wants to return the paintings to the family of the dead North Vietnamese soldier who painted them.

Americans did use typewriters – and Vietnamese language ones at that. This letter was written to his Viet Cong counterpart by US Major-General John H. Hay after the Battle of Ap Bau Bang in March 1967, complaining about the Viet Cong “disgracing themselves” and behaving in an “unsoldierly manner”. It was, apparently, subsequently used as an somewhat effective propaganda leaflet. See here (but turn off the sound).

One thing we can be fairly certain of – the North Vietnamese used portable typewriters, and they did so close to the action. The image at the top of this post is ample proof of that.
This image is of a painting from a North Vietnamese soldier I believe was called Haung Sương. However, I cannot confirm that that was his name, as although many paintings by this man were found by Australian soldiers at the battlefront and brought back to Australia, and attempts are now being made to return them to their rightful owners (presumably any of his family still alive) nowhere other than on the paintings themselves is his name mentioned.

And there are many online stories about what is called Operation Wandering Souls, concerning the quest to return these items found during the Vietnam War. What’s more, on none of these sites is this image of a North Vietnamese soldier at a typewriter seen (apart, now, from this one).

Yet another of Haung Sương‘s paintings.

The story I saw on the Seven Network on Sunday night can be seen here.  The presenter is giant Australian soldier Ben Roberts-Smith, who won the Victoria Cross in Afghanistan. The image of the North Vietnamese soldier at the typewriter can be seen at 8 minutes 17 seconds.

Roberts-Smith, centre, with Vietnam War Victoria Cross winner Keith Payne, right, and another Afghanistan War VC winner, Mark Donaldson, left.

The Operation Wandering
Souls project aims to return to Vietnamese families items that were “liberated” from bodies or captured on the battlefield by Australian and New Zealand
soldiers. Vietnamese people helped Australians find, identify and repatriate six “MIAs” (missing in action). The Geneva Conventions (Convention 1,
articles 16 and 17) say this must be done. The project is now asking Vietnam veterans who
may have taken documents or other items from bodies, or collected items
from the battlefield, and still have them, to consider returning them to Vietnam
so that Vietnamese families can be reunited with items their loved ones once
carried.

This portrait has been returned to the surviving brother of the artist. It is of their mother.

The brother of the artist with the portrait of their mother.

In Vietnamese culture, those who lie in
unrecorded graves are believed to be “wandering souls” unable to find peace. The Vietnamese government estimates that there are
more than 300,000 of their soldiers still listed as MIA since the war. Vietnamese families want to perform the rituals that will allow the souls of the
dead to find peace. They also want to hold, and place on the family altar, items
that are tangible reminders of their lost relatives. 

Bob Hall, right, and Derrill de Heer.

The Operation Wandering Souls
research team’s website is here. The team is based at the University of New South Wales branch at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra. It is led by Vietnam War veterans Bob Hall and Derrill de Heer.

This image of Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969), founder of the Vietnam Workers’ Party, was taken in 1950 in the Viet Bac military base during a campaign against French forces. He is using a Hermes Baby portable typewriter.
Below, more images from the collection awaiting a return to the surviving families of the fallen in Vietnam:

 Derrill de Heer shows surviving family members a database indicating where the bodies of fallen Vietnamese soldiers may be recovered.

Bob Hall, left.

90,000 legendary commandant: Life and death of Fidel Castro

https://ria.ru/20210813/kastro-7455572100.html

Legendary Castille Castro

Legendary Kastel – RIA Novosti, RIA Novosti, RIA Novosti, RIA Novosti 08/13/2021

The legendary Comandante: the life and death of Fidel Castro

Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro would have turned 95 on August 13. Five years ago, the world saw off the legendary Comandante on his last journey.

2021-08-13T07:47

2021-08-13T07:47

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He died a natural death at an advanced age despite numerous attempts on his life. According to the leadership of Cuba’s counterintelligence service, there were more than 600 attempts to assassinate Castro. They tried to shoot the revolutionary, poison him with toxic substances and poisons.

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The legendary Comandante: the life and death of Fidel Castro

Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro would have turned 9 on August 135 years. Five years ago, the world saw off the legendary Comandante on his last journey. He died a natural death at an advanced age despite numerous attempts on his life. According to the leadership of Cuba’s counterintelligence service, there were more than 600 attempts to assassinate Castro. They tried to shoot the revolutionary, poison him with toxic substances and poisons.

2021-08-13T07:47

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video, cuba, Fidel Castro, video

Video, Cuba, Fidel Castro

The legendary Comandante: the life and death of Fidel Castro

Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro would have turned 95 on August 13. Five years ago, the world saw off the legendary Comandante on his last journey.

2021-08-13T07:47

true

PT2M13S

Fidel Castro: Biography, education, family

Former President of the Council of State of Cuba

Leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008. Formerly Prime Minister of Cuba (1959-1976), Chairman of the Council of State of Cuba (1976-2008). In 1953, he led an unsuccessful coup attempt against Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, after which he spent two years in prison. Came to power after the overthrow of Batista at 1959 year. Acted as an opponent of the United States and established allied relations with the USSR. Since 1965, he headed the Communist Party of Cuba, actually relinquished these functions in 2006 due to illness and hospitalization, and temporarily transferred power to his brother Raul Castro. In 2008, Raúl Castro was elected as the new President of the Council of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Cuban Armed Forces, and in 2011 as General Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party.

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was born on August 13, 1926 years old in the town of Biran in Cuba, in the family of the owner of a sugar plantation [15], [21], [14], [23], [17]. From 1945 he studied at the Faculty of Law of the University of Havana. After graduating in 1950, he took up private legal practice [15], [21], [14], [22], [23], [17]. In his student years, Castro was a political activist, joined the reformist Party of the Cuban People (Partido del Pueblo Cubano), also known as the Party of the Orthodox (Partido Ortodoxo) [22], [23]. Participated in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the dictator of the Dominican Republic Rafael Trujillo (Rafael Trujillo) [23], [17]. Castro’s plans included winning a seat in the Cuban parliament, but at 19Fulgencio Batista returned to power in 1952 after an eight-year hiatus. The elections were cancelled, and Castro took up revolutionary activities [15], [22], [23], [17].

On July 26, 1953, Castro led the attack of one and a half hundred young revolutionaries on the Moncada barracks near Santiago – Batista’s largest military garrison [15], [21], [14], [22], [23]. The uprising was unsuccessful, many of Castro’s associates died, he himself was arrested and in October 1953 was sentenced to 15 years in prison [15], [21], [14], [22], [23], [17]. At the trial, he delivered a speech that became known as “History will justify me” and contained accusations against the Batista regime and a call for democratic reforms [23], [21], [17]. May 19For 55 years, under pressure from public opinion, the Cuban authorities pardoned Castro, and he emigrated to Mexico, where he organized the “26 July Movement” (Movimiento 26 de Julio), named in memory of the 1953 uprising [15], [21], [14], [22], [23]. In 1956, a group of revolutionaries, including Fidel, his brother Raul Castro, and the Argentine Ernesto “Che” Guevara, arrived in Cuba on the yacht Granma. Only a few managed to escape from the persecution of Batista’s forces, but the guerrilla movement started by them in the Sierra Maestra mountains quickly grew and gained popularity [15], [14], [22], [23], [17]. At first, the United States helped Batista’s forces in the fight against partisans [23], but in 19In 58, American military assistance to the dictator ceased [15], [23]. On January 1, 1959, Castro’s rebel forces occupied Havana, Batista fled to the Dominican Republic [15], [21], [14], [22], [23]. In the following week, a new government was formed. Castro became commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and in February took over as prime minister [15], [21], [23], [17]. Later, in 1976, a new Cuban constitution was adopted, and Fidel took over as chairman of the Council of State [15], [23].

From May 1959, the Castro government began expropriating American property in Cuba [15], [23]. In June 1960, after US President Dwight Eisenhower imposed a quota on imports of Cuban sugar, the Cuban authorities nationalized the property of American enterprises worth about $850 million [15]. Tension in relations with the United States prompted Fidel to move closer to the USSR [22], [23]. April 14 (according to other sources, April 16 [17]), 1961, Castro proclaimed the Cuban revolution socialist [15], [23] (previously it was only about moderate politics, national representative democracy and a well-organized economy [14], [22] ).

On April 15, 1961, the United States bombed Cuban airfields [15], and on April 17, about 1,400 Cuban emigrants, trained and organized by the CIA, landed in Playa Giron (Bay of Pigs, Playa Giron). Their goal was to initiate a mass uprising against the Castro government [15], [14], [22], [23]. US President John F. Kennedy only at the last moment abandoned the idea of ​​supporting this enterprise with the help of the US military [15]. On April 21, 1961, Castro’s troops successfully repelled the attack and captured about a thousand prisoners [15], [14], [23]. February 7 19For 62 years, in connection with the ongoing nationalization of American property in Cuba, the United States imposed a trade embargo against the country [15].

In October 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred, bringing the world to the brink of nuclear war. On October 14, a US reconnaissance aircraft spotted Soviet intercontinental ballistic missiles in Cuba. On October 22, Kennedy announced this in a public address. On October 27, an American U-2 reconnaissance aircraft was shot down over Cuba. On October 28, after tense negotiations, Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev were able to reach a resolution to the crisis: the USSR withdrew missiles from Cuba, the United States, in response, abandoned plans for a military invasion of the island and withdrew nuclear weapons from Turkey [15], [14], [22], [23].

During the same period, active party building took place in Cuba. In 1961, several political parties formed the United Revolutionary Organizations (Organizaciones Revolucionarias Integradas) movement, on the basis of which the United Party of the Cuban Socialist Revolution (Partido Unido de la Revolucion Socialista de Cuba; PURSC) was created in 1962 [24]. Castro became the general secretary of the party [17]. In the fall of 1965, PURSC was transformed into the Communist Party of Cuba (Partido Comunista de Cuba), and Castro became the first secretary of the party’s Politburo [17], [24].

In November 1966, US President Lyndon Johnson announced an amnesty for illegal immigrants from Cuba who left the country after the 1959 revolution. About 125 thousand people took advantage of the amnesty [15]. In addition, from December 1965 to April 1973, the United States conducted an air evacuation of Cubans wishing to leave the country: their number was more than 260 thousand people [15].

On November 11, 1975, rebels from the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (Movimento Popular de Libertacao de Angola, MPLA), with intense support from Cuba, captured the Angolan capital of Luanda and proclaimed the independence of their country from Portugal [15], [22], [23]. The military presence of Cuba in Angola remained until 1988 years old [15]. In addition, the Cubans provided assistance to the rebels in other countries – Ghana, Algeria, Mozambique, Nicaragua and El Salvador [14], [23]. At the same time, under the leadership of Castro, Cuba became a key participant in the international non-aligned movement [14], [23].

On November 20, 1975, the United States released information about eight unsuccessful attempts on the life of Castro, undertaken by the CIA from 1960 to 1965 [15]. According to Cuban authorities, during the years of Fidel’s rule, the CIA made more than 600 attempts to kill him [14].

Under the leadership of Fidel, Cuba achieved significant success in the social sphere. Cubans enjoy free healthcare, the literacy rate reaches 98 percent, and the infant mortality rate in Cuba is lower than in many Western countries [14]. At the same time, the Cuban economy was dependent on the country’s alliance with the USSR. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union bought most of the sugar produced by Cuba and supplied various goods to the island, which helped to overcome the consequences of the American blockade [14]. With the beginning of the Soviet “perestroika”, sugar purchases ceased [14], and after the collapse of the USSR in 19In 1991, advisers from the USSR who worked in Cuba left the island [15]. The cessation of Soviet economic aid led to a recession in the Cuban economy, an increase in the shortage of food and consumer goods, and, as a result, to the flourishing of the black market [15], [14], [22], [23]. The Castro government was forced to make significant concessions, allowing foreign investment in certain sectors of the economy, in particular tourism, and then allowing foreign currencies to circulate in the country [23].

Economic difficulties caused an increase in the number of refugees, many of whom died trying to reach the US coast on boats and other improvised watercraft [14], [15], [23]. 9September 1994, Cuba and the United States entered into an agreement under which the number of Cuban immigrants accepted by the United States was limited to 20 thousand people per year [15]. In January 1996, Miami-based Cuban dissident Brothers to the Rescue (Hermanos al Rescate) dropped leaflets over Havana calling for the overthrow of Castro. One of the two American aircraft used for this was shot down by Cuban air defenses, after which, on February 24, the United States made the trade embargo against Cuba permanent [15].

In January 1998, Pope John Paul II visited Cuba and met with Fidel [23], [15], who was excommunicated in 1962 by Pope John XXIII [21]. Since the revolution, the Cuban authorities have emphasized the atheistic nature of their state, but in the mid-1990s they began rapprochement with the Catholic Church, hoping to use it to enlist international support and persuade the United States to lift the economic embargo against the country [20]. The Pope celebrated several masses in different parts of the island, each of which gathered several hundred thousand people, and during the last and largest of them, held on January 25 at the Revolution Square in Havana (Castro personally attended it), John Paul II called on the United States ease economic pressure on Cuba [19].

In October 2000, the US House of Representatives revised the trade embargo against Cuba and allowed limited supplies of food and medicine to that country [15]. Castro condemned the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States [23]. At the same time, he spoke out against the US-led war in Afghanistan [23]. Against this background, there was a rapprochement between Cuba and Venezuela, which in 1998 was headed by anti-globalist President Hugo Chavez [14], [23], [12], [13].

In April 2004, the UN Commission on Human Rights condemned the Cuban authorities for violating human rights, including the detention of 78 members of the political opposition [15], [23].

In 2005, Forbes magazine named Castro one of the world’s richest people and estimated his personal fortune at $550 million. In 2006, it was already about 900 million. Castro was outraged by these reports and categorically denied that he received income from state-owned enterprises [15], [18].

In recent years, the world has closely followed Castro’s deteriorating health. In 2004, during a public speech, he fell, injuring his leg and arm [23]. On March 30, 2006, the Spanish-language press erroneously reported Castro’s death [15]. On July 31, 2006, an official statement from the Cuban authorities was released, announcing that Castro had undergone surgery due to gastrointestinal bleeding. He temporarily handed over power to the Minister of Defense and Vice President – his brother Raul. After that, Fidel did not participate in any public event. Although official Cuban sources claimed that the leader was on the mend, many observers questioned this information [16], [15], [14], [23].

On January 16, 2007, the Spanish newspaper El Pais reported that Fidel had survived at least three unsuccessful surgeries and was in critical condition. Cuban officials called this message false [11]. In March, official Cuban sources reported that Castro would certainly return to office in the run-up to the general elections scheduled for April 2008 [10].

On February 18, 2008, Fidel announced that he was going to step down as Chairman of the Council of State and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of Cuba [8], [9]. On February 24, his brother Raul Castro was elected as the new chairman of the State Council [7].

In March 2011, Castro published an article in which he, in particular, said that back in 2006, due to illness, he actually resigned from all state and party posts [6], [5]. In April of the same year, at the congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, Raul Castro was elected its general secretary instead of Fidel [3], [4].

In early February 2012, Castro presented two volumes of his memoirs under the general title “Fidel Castro Ruz: Partisan of Time”, which described the life of a politician from early childhood to December 1958 years [2], [1].

Materials used

[1] Fidel Castro presented a book of his memoirs. – BBC News, Russian Service , 02/05/2012

[2] Fidel Castro unveils 1,000-page memoir. — CNN , 02/04/2012

[3] Raul Castro Elected First Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party. — Cuban News Agency , 04/19/2011

[4] Cuban communists opt for old guard to lead party. — Reuters , 04/19/2011

[5] Fidel Castro’s announcement retirement ends of an era, spurs Cuba succession buzz. — The Associated Press , 03/22/2011

[6] Fidel Castro Ruz . Los zapaticos me aprietan. — CubaDebate , 03/21/2011

[7] Raul Castro elected president of the councils of State and Ministers. — Granma International , 02/24/2008

[8] Castro resigns as Cuban president: official media. – Agence France-Presse , 02/19/2008

[9] Fidel Castro Ruz . Reflexiones del companero Fidel. — El Mundo , 02/18/2008

[10] As Cuba prepares for 2008 vote, officials say Castro could be back. — Agence France-Presse , 03/16/2007

[11] Mar Roman . Castro reportedly in ‘grave’ condition. — The Associated Press , 01/16/2007

[12] Kirill Zubkov . Hugo Chavez goes to a new term “in the name of love.” – Newspaper (gzt.ru) , 04.12.2006. — №222

[13] Eugene Bay . Hugo Chavez casts out the devil. – Izvestia , 12/04/2006

[14] Castro: Profile of the great survivor. — BBC News , 02.12.2006

[15] Ben Brudevold-Newman . Fidel Castro: From Rebel to El Presidente. — NPR.org , 08/01/2006

[16] Castro undergoes intestinal surgery. — The Associated Press , 08/01/2006

[17] Jogesh Motwani . Fidel Castro’s election biography. — ZESTAlternative , 07/06/2006

[18] Forbes magazine compiled a list of the richest monarchs and dictators in the world.