(21 Oct 2004)
1. Wide shot audience
2. Cutaways of statue
3. Castro onstage reading at a podium, drinks water and walks away
4. Audience applauding and waving placards
5. Castro walking and falls forward, aides rush to his side
STORYLINE:
President Fidel Castro fell after leaving the podium following a televised speech on Wednesday night, hurting his knee and arm.
Castro, 78, quickly recovered his composure, appearing on television later to tell Cubans he was "all in one piece."
Castro was shown on live television after his tumble, sitting in a chair at the event in the central city of Santa Clara, east of Havana.
Castro said "maybe I broke my knee, and maybe an arm ... but I am all in one piece."
His condition was not immediately known.
Castro had been addressing a graduation ceremony for arts instructors and left the stage when he took a tumble.
An Associated Press photographer said Castro tripped on a concrete step after he finished walking down the wooden stairs from the stage, then fell onto the ground on his right side, first hitting his knee and hip, and then his elbow and arm.
As he has grown older, Castro's knees have seemed to bother him more and his step has seemed less steady.
Dressed in his typical olive green uniform, Castro was sweating profusely when he appeared on camera less than a minute after the fall.
He asked Cubans to forgive him for "any suffering this may have caused."
Castro had made it clear he did not want to leave the area in an ambulance and was later seen speeding away in his black Mercedes-Benz.
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