Cancer-ridden Castro may not live to see in new year

Cancer-ridden Castro may not live to see in new year
Friday, 08 December 2006

Cuban Vice President Jose Ramon Fernandez said that Fidel Castro, seen
here in a 28 October 2006 handout from the Juventud Rebelde(JR)
newspaper, is still recovering from intestinal surgery that has
sidelined him since late July.Cancer-ridden Castro may not live to see
in new year

The ailing Cuban President Fidel Castro is battling terminal cancer and
could be dead by Christmas, senior Western diplomatic sources have said.
Observers close to the Cuban regime have reported that the leader is
suffering from an aggressive form of stomach cancer and has refused
radiation therapy or any other form of treatment.
Cuban officials are notoriously tight-lipped over the health of their
President which they treat as a closely guarded state secret. While
occasionally they have broken their silence to report that Mr Castro is
suffering from a non life-threatening illness, these claims have been
roundly discounted by Western sources.

Mr Castro's death, when it comes, is expected to have repercussions far
beyond the shores of Cuba. On the one hand there are fears of an exodus
of Cubans towards the US.

Equally, concerns have been raised that hardline anti-Castro groups in
south Florida will stage their own attempt to destabilise the regime by
sending a flotilla of ships to the island in expectation that Cubans
will be prepared to rise up against the government - a scenario with
potentially disastrous consequences.

Either way, political developments in Cuba have the potential to
influence domestic politics in the US. When, in 2000, the then president
Bill Clinton allowed the child Elian Gonzalez to be sent back to his
homeland, the Cuban vote turned solidly Republican - and many blame the
controversy for Al Gore's subsequent loss of the presidential election
that year. Now, as the 2008 presidential campaign grinds into action,
Cuba will again become an increasingly sensitive topic in America,
especially as speculation surrounding Mr Castro's health mounts.

Cubans themselves are used to being told very little about the inner
workings of their government on security grounds, but dissidents say
uncertainty over the country's political future has fuelled impatience
with the secrecy surrounding his health. While posters proclaiming "80
more years" of Castro's leadership are still hanging all over the
capital, Havana, and the country decked the halls on Saturday for his
birthday celebrations - for which he was himself absent - many Cubans
doubt their leader will ever govern again.

Despite repeated assurances by the authorities - the most recent came
last week as Vice-President Carlos Lage Davila spoke at the end of a
conference on Mr Castro's place in history - that Mr Castro will return
to lead Cuba for years to come, more and more people suspect he is close
to death, even though they have been told little about his condition
other than that he underwent emergency surgery to stop intestinal
bleeding in July and is now recovering. "It's strange they have not said
anything about Fidel," Orlando, a telephone company worker and
government backer, told Reuters. "They must have their reasons, but I'm
worried. It has been a long time since we heard about him."

Even at his 80th birthday celebrations, held with much fanfare over the
weekend, Mr Castro did not get a mention other than a cursory "Viva
Fidel" at the end of a speech by his brother, designated successor and
acting President, Raul Castro. "People are convinced he has cancer,"
said Joel, a social worker. "We all expected to see him at the parade,
and nobody said a word."

The Independent

http://egyptelection.com/content/view/882/36/