Fidel Castro makes first public appearance in months

The former Cuban dictator appeared in public for the first time in nine months.

According to the Associated Press, the Cuban news media reported that Fidel Castro has made a public appearance.

Cuba’s Communist Party newspaper Granma reports that Castro was spotted at an opening for an art studio in Havana.

It was the first time anyone had seen the 87-year-old out in public since he attended an inauguration at a school in the country’s capital on April 9, the AP notes.

Castro first came into power after the downfall of Cuba’s former president, General Fulgencio Batista. Castro took over as prime minister in 1959 and then became the nation’s president in 1976.

He was a nemesis of the U.S. when he turned Cuba into a communist state, the first in the western hemisphere.

In 2006, he fell ill and rumors of his death swirled. In 2008, he officially relinquished power to his brother, Raul Castro.