Perhaps more with hope than real conviction, some anti-Castro bloggers have been scrutinising the recently released photographs of the ill Cuban leader for signs of fakery.
Georgia Popplewell, a journalist based in Trinidad and Tobago, has written a good round-up of blogs sceptical about the Fidel Castro pictures. Her blog posting is entitled Fauxtographic evidence?
Rumours that he is already dead and various other conspiracy theories have been flourishing because of the mystery surrounding his condition - the Cuban authorities have given scant details about it and have not said where he is recuperating.
His health problems were announced on July 31, and he has not been seen in public since July 26.
The first set of photographs were published in the Communist youth publication Juventud Rebelde on Sunday, the day of his 80th birthday. They showed him sitting with what seemed to be a proof of Saturday's edition of Granma, the main Communist daily.
More than one blogger expresses distaste at what they describe as the hostage-taker style photographs and some wonder whether there has been manipulation of the image in the "Soviet style".
Some compared old photographs and wondered if there were marks missing from his face in the latest images.
At the time of writing, the bloggers mentioned by Popplewell had not seemed to have yet considered the second set of photographs of Castro, which were published in yesterday's Granma. These showed him lying in a hospital-style bed during a visit by his friend and ally, the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez.
Cuban state television last night also broadcast a 10-minute video of the visit, which may put an end to the conspiracy theories. Now I am no expert, but it looks like Castro to me. Then again, maybe it was an actor or body double, or perhaps a sophisticated Communist robot ...
