Fidel Castro unlikely to take part in a public event again: Chavez

London, Jan 12 (ANI): Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has said it is unlikely that former Cuban President Fidel Castro would take part in a public event ever again, but that the revolutionary idol would live on beyond this "physical life". "We already know the Fidel that walked the streets and towns at night, looking like a warrior in his uniform, hugging the people, will never be seen again. He will become a memory," Mr Chavez said on his weekly "Alo Presidente" radio talk show.

He has often visited Fidel, 82, where he is receiving medical attention since undergoing gastrointestinal surgery in July 2006.

Castro has not been seen in public since handing over power to his brother Raul that same month, The Telegraph reported.

Chavez recalled the last time he saw Castro in public, a few days before he was admitted to hospital in Cordoba, Argentina.

"He escorted me to the aeroplane door. We hugged. How was I to know, my God, it would be the last time! But Fidel will live on, like he is alive now and will always live on beyond this physical life. And he must live on, he knows, for years to come. We still need you," the paper quoted Chavez, as saying.

The last snapshots of the ailing, reclusive father of the Cuban revolution were published in November, when he met in Cuba with presidents Dmitry Medvedev of Russia, and Hu Jintao of China. (ANI)