HAVANA—Former Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern was heading back to the United States on Monday without having seen Fidel Castro, whom he calls an old friend, for the first time in nearly 17 years. The 88-year-old former senator from South Dakota said officials told him Castro, who temporarily stepped aside as president in 2006 and then resigned permanently in 2008, has been "extremely busy" with official matters and the presence of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who left the island early Monday after several weeks recovering from cancer surgery.

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