Absent Cuban president Fidel Castro, ever wiling to say what’s on his mind in his weekly essays, said what might be the first kind words ever uttered about a U.S. president. But he didn’t write down his first impressions of Barack Obama; instead he leaked them to Argentine president Cristina Kirchner at a meeting between the two yesterday. You might want to sit down before you read on because this is pretty incredible:

Mrs Fernandez said: “Fidel believes in Obama. He told me he had followed the inauguration of Barack Obama very closely, that he had watched the inauguration on television all day.

“He had a very good perception of President Obama.”

The Argentine premier said Mr Castro called Mr Obama “a man who seems absolutely sincere, who believes strongly in his ideas and who hopefully can carry them out”.

But don’t go thinking Fidel’s got Obamamania running through his veins; he still has his reservations. Fidel himself wrote about his meeting with Kirchner in his weekly essay in Granma magazine, and had this to say:

I said that I personally didn’t have the slightest doubt about the honesty with which Obama, the 11th president since January 1, 1959, expresses his ideas. But in spite of his noble intentions I still have many questions that need answering. For example: how can the wasteful and consumer-driven system par excellence preserve the environment?

I must admit that’s a pretty valid question.

Via / Times Online and Granma

Image via TampaBay.com