“Aló Fidel” - Fidel Castro talks to Chavez on the radio

“I feel good and I’m happy,” uttered Fidel Castro when he made a surprise phone call to huge Chavez on his live radio broadcast last night. Fidel- who ceded power to his brother last July- said that his health “gave him time for reading” though the exact state of health remains secret. Fidel even took some shots at the U.S. by noting that “capitalism was in crisis” based on yesterday’s stock market mess.

Speaking of Hugo Chavez, on Monday he ordered by decree a take of over 60% of foreign oil projects in eastern Venezuela. “The privatization of oil is over,” declared Chavez. “Petroleum now belongs to all Venezuelans.” Four foreign oil companies are directly affected by the measure including France’s Total SA whose chairman expressed worry over the “operational constraints” caused by nationalization.

Image- China Daily (Fidel and Chavez appearing together earlier this year)

Links- CNN, The Latin Americanist, BBC News, Monsters & Critics, Playfuls, BusinessWeek