Havana, Oct 05: Cuba’s Foreign Minister said Fidel Castro will return to his post as maximum leader of the island, though he did not say when, state-run media reported yesterday. “We will again have him leading the revolution,” Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said of the ailing Fidel Castro at an outdoor event yesterday to discuss the ill effects of the US trade embargo against Cuba, according to the Communist Party daily newspaper Granma.

The 80-year-old Castro temporarily ceded power to younger brother Raul Castro on July 31, saying he needed time to recover from intestinal surgery.

Perez Roque told a news agency in New York last month that he expected the Cuban leader to be fully back at the helm by early December.

But yesterday’s event, which launched Perez Roque’s anti-embargo campaign ahead of a November 8 vote on the policy at the United Nations, marked the first time a high-ranking official made similar comments directly to Cubans. He did not say at the event when the leader would return, according to Granma.