Fidel Castro 'talked a lot' during meeting, Brazil's Rousseff says

HAVANA (Reuters) - Fidel Castro was lucid, displayed a sharp memory and "talked a lot," Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said on Tuesday of her two-hour meeting with the former Cuban president. Rousseff met Castro, 87, on Monday during her visit to Cuba for a Latin American and Caribbean summit. She said Castro discussed his contemporaries, such as former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, and historical figures such as Napoleon. Castro has rarely been seen in public since he took ill in 2006 and handed over power to his younger brother Raul Castro, at first provisionally in 2006 and then definitively in 2008. "He talked a lot," Rousseff said of Fidel Castro, who was famous for lengthy speeches in his younger days, such as the time in 1960 when he told the United Nations General Assembly "we shall endeavor to be brief," then spoke for a record four-and-a-half hours. "He is well, wholesome, lucid," Rousseff said. "It's very interesting because a person who lived through such an important moment in world history personally knew a lot of things, and he has an excellent memory, telling stories." (Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)