FIdel Castro

President Nicolás Maduro said a little bird told him that the former president is "happy and full of love."

Telesur has denied the rumors of Mariela Castro being on flight AH5017 via their Twitter account.

As protests in Venezuela intensify, anger amongst the country's protesters has turned increasingly towards their Caribbean communist counterpart.

Protests have taken place once again in Venezuela on Sunday, with protesters calling for an end to Cuba's involvement in the troubled South American nation.

The former Mexican president has been hostile toward the Cuban government since a diplomatic fiasco erupted in 2002. He's criticizing Mexico's decision to waive almost $500 million in debt owed to it by Cuba.

Ignacio Ramonet, a Spanish journalist who has published informal biographies of both Castro and late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, writes an account of his mid-December meeting with Castro, who was suspected of being in ill health after making no public comment in the days following the death of Nelson Mandela.