HAVANA – Fidel Castro collapsed while giving a speech under the scorching sun Saturday and later joked that it was a “dress rehearsal” for his death.
The nationally televised episode threw much of Cuba into a tizzy, but Mr. Castro was remarkably composed, saying later that he took his own pulse and quickly decided he was well enough to go back on stage.
By then, bodyguards had rushed him to an emergency vehicle and attendants had put an oxygen mask on his face.
“I was fighting for them to let me go,” the 74-year-old recalled Saturday night. “I argued with them. I had to exercise a little bit of my authority. I said, ‘I’ll cooperate with you, but you cooperate with me.'”
The Cuban president then strode back onto stage saying, “I’m fine. Don’t worry,” triggering a flurry of applause and flag-waving from the crowd of 60,000.
The incident illustrated not only the character and determination of Mr. Castro, but the quick response of his underlings.
Seconds after Mr. Castro was carried off, his young foreign minister, Felipe Perez Roque, took the microphone.
“Calm down,” he told the crowd firmly. “Calm down.”
Mr. Castro had journeyed to Cotorros municipality near Havana to speak to supporters. Two hours and three minutes into his speech, he began having difficulties. He took a deep breath. His voice weakened. Then the cameras shifted to faces in the crowd.
Witnesses say the Cuban president leaned on the lectern, and bodyguards with handguns in their belts rushed forward to prevent his fall. The crowd hushed. Some Castro loyalists began to cry. Many screamed out, “Fidel, Fidel, Fidel.”
Mr. Perez Roque urged “calm and confidence,” and launched into an impromptu speech about Mr. Castro’s long workdays, sleepless nights and “superhuman efforts.”
Seven and a half minutes later, Mr. Castro reappeared on stage and tapped the microphone.
“I didn’t sleep last night looking for papers and figures,” he said to raucous applause. “I’ll see you tonight. I have things to say.”
The cheering went on. “Please,” Mr. Castro appeared to say in English. Then he said he would be back after sleeping for a couple of hours.
Ordinary Cubans were abuzz after the incident.
“Did you hear?” asked a seller of black-market cigars. “Fidel fainted.”
State-run media played down the episode.
“With his firm will and the unbending spirit of his years as a warrior, the Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro overextended himself, said Granma , one of Cuba’s state-run newspapers.
Mr. Castro turns 75 on Aug. 13. He took power in 1959 and has been known to work for days at a time.
“All we Cubans think he ought to rest a little bit more, like any other head of state,” Cuban author Marta Rojas said.
On Saturday night, Mr. Castro reappeared on national television – this time from an air-conditioned studio – and apologized for cutting off his speech.
“I underestimated the heat,” he said.
He then resumed his attacks on the United States. Before calling it quits, he spoke for an additional two and a half hours.
“I feel good,” he said. “I hope you’ll let me work in peace.”
