International   

Castro battling for his life: Chavez

Cuban leader's doctor dismisses alarmist reports on his health

— PHOTO: AFP

Cuban leader Fidel Castro in this August 2006

RIO DE JANEIRO: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Friday that Fidel Castro is ``battling for his life'' and that he spoke with the ailing Cuban leader for nearly half an hour several days ago.

Chavez, a close ally and admirer of Castro, compared the Cuban leader's attempt to recover from an unspecified medical condition to the 1950s, when Castro was a guerrilla in Cuba's eastern mountains fighting the government he would overthrow.

``Fidel is in the Sierra Maestra again, battling for his life,'' Chavez said after attending a summit of South American leaders in Rio.

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 Defence Minister.

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.

In a speech on Wednesday night, Chavez called Castro's situation ``delicate'' but dismissed as speculation recent Spanish press reports portraying Castro as near death after three failed operations and complications from the intestinal infection diverticulitis.

On Friday, Chavez said he could not give more details about Castro's condition ``because I'm not the doctor who's caring for Fidel.''

He added: ``And if I was, I wouldn't anyway, but nevertheless I can tell you: I don't know when Fidel will die, I hope he lives 80 more years, I hope he lives 100 more years.''

Chavez is known for making bold statements without elaborating.-AP

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Castro battling for his life: Chavez
Ahmed scraps polls
Blair aide held in peerages row
Abbas in Syria for talks
Abramoff case: jail for former Congressman
Turkey shocked by killing of journalist
Fiji warns New Zealand
From the forests with many questions
114-year-old now the oldest woman
A house divided by divorce
"Chimps use herbs"
In phantom capital, a city slowly takes shape

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu