Fawning Over Fidel: A Year Without El Presidente

It's been one year since old Fidel has been seen in public (and not simply some staged photo ops that make one wish for reruns of Weekend at Bernies). The AP is practically drooling as they write this:

When Fidel Castro last appeared in public one year ago Thursday, he enthusiastically led about 100,000 Communist Party faithful in celebrating the audacious attack on an army barracks that launched his revolution.

These days, the convalescing 80-year-old seems to be in vigilant semiretirement.

He tracks government affairs and writes essays from an undisclosed location, apparently in no rush to resume the hectic lifestyle he blamed for his ailment. He can spend hours watching the Pan American games on television, writing last week that he is so engrossed that he forgets to eat and take his medicine.

Forgets to eat and take his meds? Heh. He's so busy that he can't be seen in public and his handlers are limiting access to [T]hugo Chavez and similar persons?

Did the AP actually meet and greet Fidel, or did they simply reprint the Cuban government line?