Castro: “I Was at Death’s Door”

Fidel Castro's icy-cold exterior may be thawing a bit, after the former Cuban dictator gave an open and revealing interview to discuss just how close to meeting his maker he was during a prolonged sickness four years ago.

"I was at death's door, but I came back," the Communist Fidel told the left-leaning Mexican daily La Jornada in the interview, published Monday. "I couldn't aspire to live any longer, much less anything else."

The interview, the 84-year-old's most extensive since handing the reigns of Cuba to brother Raul four years ago, lasted five hours and touched mostly on his health troubles.

Castro admitted that his weight dropped to a very low 145 pounds in July 2006, and he underwent several surgeries that left him bedridden and apparently in pain for quite awhile.

"I asked myself several times if these people (the doctors) would let me live under these conditions or whether they would allow me to die," Castro said.

"Laid out in that bed, I could only see what was around me, machines I did not understand," Castro said. "I didn't know how long this torment would continue. The only thing I could hope for was that the world would stop."

"But I recovered," he added, proudly. Much of that recovery took place out of the public eye.

But the interview is just the latest in what some are calling Fidel's latest comeback. Since July, Castro has made a handful of TV appearances, checked in with a scientific think tank, and paid a visit to a memorial for members of the 26 de Julio Movement who died in the Revolution.

Now back on his feet, Castro apparently is trying to keep those feet moving.