Cuba denies Castro has cancer

Cuba denies Castro has cancer
06/08/2006 10:03 - (SA)

Sucre, Bolivia - Cuba's vice president on Saturday said Fidel Castro
does not have stomach cancer and is recuperating well from surgery.

"He is coming along well. He does not have stomach cancer," Carlos Lage
told reporters during a visit to Bolivia for the opening of a
constitutional assembly. "He's been made well by the operation and is
recuperating favorably."

Castro announced on Monday that he was undergoing surgery for intestinal
bleeding and was handing over power to his brother.

Doctors in the United States said Castro's condition could be
life-threatening but since the details of his symptoms were not released
it was hard to say what caused the bleeding: severe ulcers, a colon
condition called diverticulosis or even cancer.

Havana has provided no details and released no pictures of Castro -
fuelling speculation on his condition in a host of countries.

Cubans were told on Tuesday in a statement attributed Castro that most
details of his health would be kept "a state secret" to prevent the
island's enemies from taking advantage of his condition.

Lage was in southern Bolivia as the Andean nation kicked off a
convention to write its constitution.

President Evo Morales, a leftist elected in December as Bolivia's first
Indian president, envisions the assembly as a means to undo the
centuries-old supremacy of the European-descended minority and create
more political power and economic opportunity for the poor indigenous
majority.

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