Reuters, which knows a LOT about faking photos reports that some Cuban exiles believe that the photos released today of Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez may have been faked.
The sickroom photos showing the Cuban leader sitting up, holding a telephone, and chatting with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez two weeks after surgery for intestinal bleeding were apparently released to reassure Cubans that Castro was recuperating.
But some in Miami who fled his communist government thought they had been cobbled together from older images to falsely suggest Castro was still hearty and in charge.
"I don't think that Fidel Castro picture is authentic," said Paul Salgueiro, a doctor who left Cuba in 1961. "I wish it would be the other way around and he's not in the picture anymore."
Chatting outside a popular Cuban restaurant, many people asked why the 80-year-old Castro had not spoken on the radio or television if he was recovering as well as the photos suggested.
"If he's talking on the phone, why hasn't he said anything (publicly)?" said Jose Fabregas, who thought the photos were fakes.
Fabregas said he thought Castro was terminally ill but still alive. His companion, Juan Delgado, nodded in agreement.
"He's alive. I never doubted it," said Delgado, who's own father survived surgery for intestinal bleeding at age 82.
Well, we can't say for sure since the photos are extremely low resolution. However, our operative from Magic 8-Ball Photography and Dry Cleaning, LLC, did manage to obtain actual, genuine Reuters Quality™ photographs of what the two leaders did while they were hanging out together.
