Fidel Castro presents 2 volumes of memoir

HAVANA - Former Cuban President Fidel Castro presented two volumes of his memoir "Guerrilla Man of Time," which related his experience from childhood to the end of December 1958, previous to the triumph of the Cuban revolution, the official media reported Saturday.

The books, with about 1,000 pages, were the result of Castro's conversation with Cuban journalist Katiuska Blanco, who wrote two other books on Castro "All the Time of Cedars" and "Angel."

The official daily Granma reported the "historic revolutionary leader," 86, stressed he needs to seize the time, because with the aging, his memory runs out and he wants to do his best to do something useful for the next generations.

Asked about his opinion about politics, Castro said, "I prefer old watches, old boots and old glasses, but in politics I prefer everything new."

Castro started in 1956 a guerrilla revolutionary movement, which finally ousted the administration of Fulgencio Batista on January 1, 1959.

During his 48-year governance of the island country, he defied US economic sanctions and survived hundreds of attempts against his life.

In 2006, he handed over power to his younger brother Raul Castro, who is the current Cuban president, due to a critical intestinal surgery.

In 2010, he presented autobiography books on his guerrilla life in the Sierra Maestra mountains: "The Strategic Victory" and "The Strategic Counteroffensive," covering the last six months of the war against Batista.