Cuban officials: Castro is not terminally ill, does not have cancer

Cuban officials: Castro is not terminally ill, does not have cancer
By Vanessa Arrington
The Associated Press
Posted December 17 2006, 2:31 PM EST

HAVANA -- Cuban officials told a group of visiting U.S. lawmakers that
Fidel Castro does not have cancer or a terminal illness in the most
comprehensive denial yet of rampant rumors about the ailing leader's
health, the head of the U.S. delegation said Sunday.

U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican, said Cuban officials did
not provide further details on the 80-year-old leader's health, but did
say he will eventually return to public life.

"All the officials have told us that his illness is not cancer, nor is
it terminal, and he will be back,'' Flake told The Associated Press in a
telephone interview.

Castro's medical condition has been a state secret since he underwent
surgery for intestinal bleeding in late July and temporarily ceded power
to his younger brother Raul Castro. He has not been seen publicly since
July 26.

Cuban officials have repeatedly insisted the elder Castro is recovering,
and Vice President Carlos Lage previously dismissed reports that the
leader was suffering from stomach cancer. But officials have not
publicly denied rumors that he could have another type of cancer or some
other terminal illness.

U.S. officials have said they believe Castro suffers from some kind of
inoperable cancer and will not live through the end of 2007. Some U.S.
doctors have speculated he could have a colon condition called
diverticulosis, which is relatively common among the elderly.

Castro failed to appear at his own delayed birthday celebrations earlier
this month, prompting new speculation that he was on his deathbed. Raul
Castro has appeared increasingly confident in his new role, but
officials have been cautious when it comes to talking about a post-Fidel
era.

"They were more guarded than I expected about any suggestion that there
might be any substantive change economically and politically,'' Flake,
who supports lifting the U.S. embargo and travel ban on Cuba, said of
Cuban officials.

The group of 10 lawmakers arrived Friday and has met with Foreign
Minister Felipe Perez Roque, Parliament Speaker Ricardo Alarcon and
Basic Industries Minister Yadira Garcia. They had not met with Raul
Castro as of Sunday afternoon, and no longer expected to.

"We had hoped to meet with Raul, but that is not going to happen,'' said
Flake, on his fifth trip to the island. "It seems that the Cuban
government may not be ready to say that the new era has begun, and
perhaps that meeting would suggest that.''

In recent years, the Bush administration has intensified the U.S. trade
embargo and other policies aimed at squeezing the island's economy and
undermining Cuba's communist leaders.

Bush administration officials have twice rejected offers to talk with
Cuban officials since Fidel Castro fell ill, saying that the country
must first hold free and competitive elections and release all political
prisoners.

On Friday, Fidel Castro telephoned a meeting of provincial legislative
leaders, the Communist Party daily said Saturday in a report apparently
aimed at quelling rumors about the leader's health. That call and
another to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez the same day constituted the
first news in 11 days about the convalescing Cuban leader.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/cuba/sfl-1217castro,0,5251027.story?coll=sfla-news-cuba