Chavez speaks about Fidel Castro’s recovery
Campaign News | Sunday, 4 February 2007
Cuban leader is much better
CARACAS.- Back from his visit to Cuba earlier in the week, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told the press in Caracas Thursday that Fidel Castro continues on the road to recovery.
Chavez said that during his exchange with the Cuban leader he saw a notable improvement, “He’s gained several kilos, he walks more than I, analyzing, studying,” reported Prensa Latina.
“We were talking for two hours and he wanted to continue, but I told him, that was good for the time being, and that I would be back,” added Chavez.
FIDEL’S RECOVERY CONTINUES TO MAKE NEWS
The media coverage of Fidel Castro’s recovery continued around the world on Thursday.
Guatemalan legislator and ex-guerrilla commander Alba Estela Maldonado said she was happy to hear the news about the recovery of the Cuban leader and said she was sure we would continue to have his reflections and ideas.
“We always believed that the Cuban media was telling the truth because if any people are well informed it’s the Cubans,” Maldonado told Prensa Latina.
In El Salvador, the image on the cover of Colatino newspaper highlighted the recuperation of the Cuban president in his appearance with Hugo Chavez.
Argentina’s Clarin newspaper ran a photo on its front page under the headline: “Fidel on TV with Chavez,” and reports that Fidel commented on a recent article in the daily about the effects of climatic change.
Cuban TV shows Fidel talking to Chavez
30 Jan: Cuban state television on Tuesday showed a video of Fidel Castro meeting with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the first images of the ailing leader shown in three months.
The report said the 10-minute video clip was taped on Monday, in a two-hour private meeting that was not previously publicized.
Castro, who was standing, looked alert and heavier than in previous images that had showed him appearing very thin and frail. Dressed in a red, white and blue track suit, the 80-year-old was also shown sitting and drinking orange juice.
The broadcast came on the eve of Castro's July 31 announcement that he had undergone intestinal surgery and was provisionally ceding power to his younger brother Raul.
Castro's medical condition is a state secret, but Cuban authorities deny he suffers from terminal cancer, as U.S. intelligence officials have claimed.
The latest images seemed to be aimed at knocking down the most recent round of reports about Castro's health, including a report in the Spanish newspaper El Pais earlier this month that described his health as "grave."
Citing two medical sources at Madrid's Gregorio Maranon hospital, the newspaper said intestinal 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
http://www.timesdaily.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070130/API/701303047&cachetime=5
Fidel Castro 'recovering actively'
He will resume leadership, says Deputy Foreign Minister
MEXICO, January 29 (Itar-Tass) - Fidel Castro “is recovering actively” after a stomach operation he underwent half a year ago and will assume the powers of the head of state again as soon as his doctors permit him to do it, Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said in Guatemala on Sunday.
“I can only say that his state of health has improved noticeably,” he told local journalists.
According to Rodriguez, Castro keeps observing strictly medical advice and “will assume his full powers again after they give a permission to him.”
Before the operation Fidel Castro passed temporarily to his brother Raul Castro the powers of the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party, the President of the Council of State and Council of Ministers, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Chairman of the National Defence Council.
http://www.tass.ru/eng/level2.html?NewsID=11197601&PageNum=0
Fidel 'still in charge,' says Alarcon
Castro is Still in Charge of Cuba: President of National Assembly
26 January 2007 | 07:21 | FOCUS News Agency
Havana: Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who dropped from public view six months ago after undergoing emergency surgery, is recovering and is still in charge of Cuba, a senior government official said on Thursday, Reuters reported.
"He is still at the helm," Ricardo Alarcon, president of Cuba's National Assembly, told reporters.
Alarcon said the 80-year-old Cuban leader was out of sight because he was following strict doctor's instructions for his recovery "which is going very well."
Castro relinquished power for the first time since his 1959 revolution when he handed over government duties temporarily to his brother, Defense Minister Raul Castro on July 31.
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n104272
Fidel Castro recovering: Chavez
Caracas, Jan. 25: Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro is recovering and has been up and walking - in fact "almost jogging" - in recent days, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said today.
Chavez said he was pleased to hear from Cuban Vice-President Carlos Lage that the 80-year-old Castro was making a recovery. Lage, after meeting with Chavez, said: "We will have Fidel and we will have Raul for a lot more time."
"Lage told me that Fidel walked I don't know how many minutes yesterday," Chavez said yesterday, noting he suspected Castro was watching his speech on television.
"He's walking more than me, almost jogging. Maybe he's walking while watching us."
Chavez has regularly reported in generalities on Castro's health since July 31, when the Cuban leader announced he was temporarily stepping aside while he recovered from an operation and was provisionally ceding power to his brother Raul.
Chavez held up a letter and said, "I'm going to show you something, for those who say that Fidel is dying, that he can't talk, that he can't move."
The TV camera zoomed in on the letter and on Castro's signature in black ink. "Look closely at the strokes of the signature. We are extremely happy, Fidel, about the news of your recuperation."
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/003200701251225.htm
Cuban Vice President: Castro Recovering
Country is operating normally
HAVANA (AP) - 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.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6364606,00.html
Fidel in 'fight for life', says Chavez
Venezuelan leader says he is in Sierra Maestra again.
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez says that Cuban leader Fidel Castro is fighting for his life.
The Cuban leader's health has been under much speculation since having an operation in July. Details of his health have been a closely guarded secret amongst officials and doctors, but his condition has forced the 80-year-old to hand over power to his brother, defence minister Raul Castro.
'He is going through a difficult situation but just like he says, the machine that they have to fix is 80 years old,' said the Venezuelan leader, speaking at a summit in Brazil.
'Fidel is in the Sierra Maestra again, fighting for his life,' he said, comparing his good friend's health struggle to his 1950s battle in Cuba's eastern mountains to overthrow the Cuban government.
'I wish he could live another 80 years. But Fidel Castro is one of those men that will never die,' said Mr Chavez.
The Venezuelan leader refused to give further details about the Mr Castro's health saying that he was not his doctor, and would not give the details 'even if I was'.
A Spanish surgeon told CNN on Wednesday that speculation on Mr Castro's health in Spanish papers were all based on rumours. Dr Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido said that only 'the name of the patient, that he has been operated on, and that he has had complications' were true.
Dr Sabrido said the Cuban leader was making a progressive recovery.
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/americas/news/article_1249065.php/Chavez_Castro_is_fighting_for_his_life
Fidel in 'delicate situation,' Chavez says
From Bloomberg News
Cuban President Fidel Castro's health is in a "delicate situation," Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said after a Spanish newspaper reported Castro was in serious condition following three surgeries on his large intestine.
"There was a serious complication," Chavez, a key ally, said in a televised speech tonight in Caracas. "He's been in a delicate situation. We ask God for Fidel's recovery."
Castro, 80, had operations for diverticulitis, which was complicated by infection, worsening his condition to peritonitis, El Pais reported yesterday on its Web site, citing unidentified medical officials at Madrid-based Gregorio Maranon hospital. Doctors were unable to stop the infection, the report said.
Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido, chief surgeon at the hospital, visited Castro while traveling to Havana last month, according to the report. The current prognosis is very serious, and Castro is being fed intravenously, the report said.
"Some are saying Fidel has died," Chavez said. "Well, everyone dies some day."
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aCGwhZPlfoJ8&refer=latin_america
