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 News from Around the Americas | January 2007 
With Little Known About Castro's Condition, Cuba is Abuzz with Rumors
 Carlos Batista - Agence France Presse
| | Cuban President Fidel Castro gestures during a political rally. With little known about the condition of ailing President Castro over the past six months, Cuba has been abuzz with wild rumors, further fueled by speculation reaching the island from abroad. (AFP/Juan Mabromata) |
With little known about the condition of ailing President Fidel Castro over the past six months, Cuba has been abuzz with wild rumors, further fueled by speculation reaching the island from abroad.
Authorities in communist Cuba have given only rare and vague medical updates since the July 31 announcement that Castro had undergone intestinal surgery a few days earlier and handed over power to his younger brother Raul.
Ever since, the announcement, the rumor mill has been working overtime.
"Some people have even said he has died, that they are conserving him and waiting for I don't know what, but I don't believe that," said Felix Perez, a 35-year-old waiter.
A 28-year old nurse, who would only identify herself as Josefina said rumors circulating in a Havana hospital say "he is very thin, but is alright and spending his time on the telephone, giving orders and driving the doctors crazy."
In the absence of news, many Cubans rely on what is known here as Radio Bemba -- word-of-mouth that circulates in the streets.
Some get their news through foreign television programs, often thanks to illegal cable connections or satellite dishes.
Radio Bemba even reaches the inside of prisons.
"Visitors tell us what is said in the streets," said Pedro, 51 shortly after being released from a Havana jail where he was held for causing a "public scandal."
Sometimes, the rumors also reach tourists' ears.
"There are many stories going around, some people say Castro doesn't show himself because he has lost his beard," said Jorge Torres, a visitor from Guatemala.
Statements from abroad have added to the confusion.
US and other officials suggested Castro had terminal cancer. A Spanish surgeon who visited the ailing leader last month, dismissed the theory, but gave no details of Castro's ailment.
Spanish media reports citing the hospital where the surgeon works said the revolutionary leader had suffered intestinal hemorrhaging last summer and a severe infection caused by inflammation of the large intestine. The surgeon also denied that version too.
"Everything that is said is sheer speculation. What is certain is that Cuba feeds the rumors," said a Latin American diplomat.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has visited and telephoned Castro on several occasions, said last week his friend and ally was battling for his life, but gave no details.
The revolutionary leader, who has survived several assassination attempts, has said his condition had to remain "a state secret."
Cuban Vice President: Castro RecoveringAssociated Press
Cuba's vice president said Monday that Fidel Castro continued to recover from intestinal surgery and the country was operating normally in his absence.
Castro, 80, has not been seen in public since shortly before July 31 when he announced he was temporarily stepping aside while he recovered from an operation. He has provisionally ceded power to his brother Raul, the 75-year-old defense minister.
Vice President Jose Ramon "Fernandez indicated the leader is recovering and added that after six months of his convalescence the nation is functioning with normality," the official Prensa Latina news agency reported.
Castro's medical condition is a state secret, but Cuban authorities deny he suffers from terminal cancer, as U.S. intelligence officials have claimed. Cuban officials have nonetheless stopped insisting Castro will return to power.
A delegation of Spanish lawmakers, visiting from the country's Galicia region, wished Castro a speedy recovery, the agency reported.
Last week, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported that Castro directed his surgeons to pursue the riskier option of surgery rather than performing a colostomy that would have forced him to be dependent on a bag for bodily functions.
Citing two medical sources at Madrid's Gregorio Maranon hospital, the newspaper said the operation failed when a suture burst, leaving the Cuban leader in grave condition. Cuban officials have denied the account.
The hospital's chief surgeon is Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido, who flew to Cuba in December to treat Castro. But Garcia Sabrido said in an interview posted on CNN's Web site last week that El Pais' account of Castro's condition being grave was wrong. |
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