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Doctor dismisses report on Castro's declining condition

By IANS, Thursday January 18, 08:59 AM

Madrid, Jan 18 (Xinhua) Media reports that Cuban leader Fidel Castro's condition had declined due to complications have been dismissed by a Spanish doctor as rumours.

Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido, who examined Castro in December, told CCN television Wednesday that Castro's health was undergoing a progressive improvement.

He dismissed a report by Spanish newspaper El Pais that said Castro suffered a severe intestinal infection and three failed operations.

The doctor acknowledged Castro had had operations and complications, but said the rest of the report was groundless. Garcia Sabrido examined Castro last month in Havana, after which he said the leader was undergoing a steady recovery and ruled out cancer.

Castro has been absent from Cuba's politics since July when he underwent operations, giving rise to speculation that the 80-year-old leader may bow out of the Caribbean country's political landscape.

His younger brother Raul Castro has been appointed to take charge.

Castro reportedly did not want colostomy

By Paul Haven, Associated Press Writer. January 18, 2007.

MADRID, Spain -Fidel Castro himself told surgeons not to perform a colostomy, opting instead for a course of surgery that produced a complication leaving the Cuban leader in far worse condition, according to a newspaper report Wednesday.

After removing an inflamed piece of Castro's large intestine in an operation last year, the doctors connected the remainder directly to his rectum, rather than attaching a colostomy bag, El Pais said, quoting two medical sources at Madrid's Gregorio Maranon hospital. The operation failed when a suture burst.

"The Cuban dictator and his advisers are the ones who decided on the surgical technique that has led to the complications," the paper said.

While the newspaper article did not name the sources, one of the journalists who wrote it told The Associated Press that both were doctors at the hospital. The journalist, Oriel Guell, said none of the information in articles published Tuesday and Wednesday came from surgeon Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido, who flew to Cuba in December to treat the 80-year-old Castro.

Garcia Sabrido, the hospital's chief surgeon, declined comment Wednesday but said in an interview posted on CNN's Web site that El Pais' account of Castro's condition being grave was wrong.

"According to my information, there is even some progressive improvement," Sabrido was quoted as saying. "The only truthful parts of the newspaper's reports are the name of the patient, that he has been operated on, and that he has had complications. The rest is rumors."

He provided no new details about Castro's health.

A Cuban diplomat in Madrid said Tuesday that the newspaper's report was "an invented story."

"It's another lie and we are not going to talk about it. If anyone has to talk about Castro's illness, it's Havana," said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with normal diplomatic practice.

Experts say it's possible Castro and his surgeons went for the riskier procedure to spare him the indignity of being temporarily attached to a colostomy bag for waste removal. In standard colostomies, patients are dependent on such bags for approximately six weeks.

Attempting to reattach the colon to the rectum is an inherently trickier surgical procedure, since waste can leak into the abdomen, causing infection.

"It sounds like they took a gamble and they lost," said Dr. Peter Shamamian, an associate professor of surgery at New York University School of Medicine, referring to Castro's surgeons.

Though Shamamian said it was difficult to speculate on Castro's condition, he said colostomies are a standard procedure that do not usually result in serious complications.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a close friend of Castro, said Wednesday that the report of Castro being near death was speculation, but did not elaborate.

"About 10 days ago he called me and we spoke for about half an hour," Chavez said during a speech in the Venezuelan capital.

Chavez said he was breaking a promise by talking about the conversation because Castro allegedly said to him: "I beg you please don't tell anyone that I called you because then they get jealous, and others call me from I don't know where and want to speak with me, but I'm hardly calling anyone."

The Venezuelan president gave no further details on their conversation or on Castro's progress other than reiterating earlier comments the situation was "delicate" and that his recovery was a "slow" and not free from risks."

El Pais reported Tuesday that Castro is in "very grave" condition after three failed operations and complications from the intestinal infection diverticulitis.

El Pais said that in December, when Garcia Sabrido visited, Castro had an abdominal wound that was leaking more than a pint of fluids a day, causing "a severe loss of nutrients." The Cuban leader was being fed intravenously, the report said.

Cuba has released little information on Castro's condition since he temporarily ceded power in July to his brother, Defense Minister Raul Castro, until he could recover from emergency intestinal surgery, prompting much speculation and rumor in the country and around the world.

Washington had speculated that Castro could suffer from cancer - a supposition denied by Garcia Sabrido. Some U.S. doctors believed Castro was suffering from diverticular disease, which can cause bleeding in the lower intestine, especially in people over 60. In severe cases, emergency surgery may be required.

AP Medical Writer Maria Cheng in London contributed to this report.

Castro sets stage for power transition

By Katherine Shrader, Associated Press Writer. January 17, 2007.

WASHINGTON - Fidel Castro, ailing and out of sight, has been meeting with a trickle of international guests in recent months, a U.S. government official said Tuesday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive situation with Cuba, declined to say with whom Castro was meeting. But the meetings, generally with visitors from Latin America, suggest he may be setting the stage for a transition of power that he hopes will protect the government he has built over four decades.

In a review of global threats last week, National Intelligence Director John Negroponte said that Castro and his brother Raul, who has taken over as Cuba's temporary leader, are trying to create a "soft landing" during the transfer of control.

"From the point of the United States policy, we don't want to see that happen," Negroponte said. "We want to see the prospects for freedom in that country enhanced as a result of the transition" from Fidel Castro.

Negroponte also said Castro's days "seem to be numbered," a view supported Tuesday by the U.S. government official. That official said U.S. intelligence believes that Castro is likely to die within a month or two, although analysts don't yet know the precise nature of his illness.

That assessment narrowed the life-expectancy estimate of U.S. intelligence agencies, which previously had said Castro was not expected to make it through the end of this year.

The Spanish newspaper El Pais reported on Tuesday that Castro has had at least three failed operations and is suffering complications from an intestinal infection, leaving him with a "grave prognosis."

The reported rare details about his medical treatment, citing two unidentified sources from Madrid's Gregorio Maranon hospital, which employs surgeon Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido. An expert in the digestive system, Sabrido flew to Cuba in December to treat Castro and returned insisting that the 80-year-old was recovering slowly from a serious operation.

One of the journalists who wrote the article told The Associated Press that Sabrido was not one of the two sources. The journalist, Oriol Guell, said the sources were both doctors at the hospital, but he declined to identify them.

A Cuban diplomat in Madrid said the El Pais report was false. "If anyone has to talk about Castro's illness, it's Havana," the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of official policy.

U.S. officials will not disclose how they glean clues to Castro's health. But American spy agencies employ physicians who study images, public statements and other information coming out of Cuba and other countries.

Some intelligence officials believe Castro is suffering from diverticular disease, which can cause bleeding in the lower intestine, especially in people over 60. Others believe that Castro has cancer of the stomach, the colon or perhaps the pancreas.

Yet Cuban officials told a delegation of U.S. lawmakers visiting last month that Castro did not have cancer, and the Spanish doctor who came to check on him said the same.

Havana's public position is that Castro is alive, healthy and will return to power, which U.S. analysts discount.

Negroponte said last week it is an open question whether Castro's death could trigger a popular demand for democratic change.

"What is not known is whether people are holding back - maybe we're not seeing the kind of the ferment yet that one might expect to see once Mr. Castro has definitively departed the scene," said Negroponte, who has been nominated by President Bush to be deputy secretary of state.

Pressed further by senators on whether the U.S. knows what to expect in Cuba, Negroponte added: "We don't know in large measure because it is a repressive society. They've repressed their opposition so severely over all these years, so people aren't exactly speaking up yet."

Despite uncertainty about the future of Cuba, the island's Communist Party retains firm control on the island. And the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lt. Gen. Michael Maples, said Raul Castro probably will maintain power and stability after his older brother dies - "at least for the short term."

"Raul Castro has widespread respect and support among Cuban military leaders who will be crucial in permanent government succession," Maples said in written testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a close friend and political ally of Castro, said Tuesday that he had spoken with the Cuban leader a few days ago and denied that Castro's condition was grave.

"I'm not a doctor, I'm not at the foot of Fidel's bed, but it's not like they say: neither grave, nor does he have cancer," Chavez told journalists while visiting Ecuador. "I received recent reports that Fidel continues a slow process of recovery that is not easy - I'm not going to give details - but I'm far from sure of all these catastrophic versions that have already killed him several times."

Cuban-Americans Share Thoughts On Castro's Condition

WPLG Click10.com via Yahoo! News January 16, 2007.

At La Palma Restaurant on Little Havana's famed Calle Ocho, the early-morning coffee is served with some Cuban nostalgia.

On this Tuesday morning, waitress Daisy Romeo shows off a cigar box that serves as a container for old Cuban currency. Some of her customers remember when the bills had more value than just the sentimental type.

Customers like Rosa Naranja come to La Palma for caf? -- and to share their thoughts on the latest news about the fading health of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.

Naranja read the report in Madrid's El Pais newspaper that cited two unnamed sources who said Castro is in "very grave" condition after three failed operations and complications from an intestinal infection. The sources were from the Gregorio Maranon hospital, which employs surgeon Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido, who flew to Cuba in December to treat the 80-year-old Communist leader.

Naranja said she believes Spain is just as corrupt as Cuba and would attempt to hide Castro's condition from the public for as long as possible. Nevertheless, some believe Castro is already dead.

"Every little news for them is hope, you know, that there's something different going to happen to them," said Albert Acosta about his Cuban-born parents.

Acosta said his parents are already planning their futures based on the recent reports that have emerged about Castro's health ever since he ceded power to brother Raul Castro in July 2006.

"They called me at 11:45 (Monday night) excited," said Acosta. "They're probably not sleeping right now."

Frozen Cuban assets are target of suits

By Curt Anderson, AP Legal Affairs Writer . January 13, 2007.

MIAMI - The day a judge awarded her family $400 million in damages for Cuba's execution by firing squad of her brother, Jeannette Hausler said his death had been vindicated. "We have found justice," she said.

But now comes the hard part for Hausler and other family members of Robert Fuller, a U.S. citizen who owned a plantation in Cuba and was tortured and killed on Oct. 16, 1960. They will try to identify Cuban assets frozen in U.S. bank accounts in an effort to collect any money after the Dec. 14 court ruling.

"How much there is is not clear. The banks are very coy about telling you how much is there, because they don't want to get sued by the Cuban government," said Alfonso Perez, one of the Fuller family's attorneys. "Are we going to try to get some of those assets? Absolutely."

Fidel Castro's serious illness raises another possibility: after his death, Cuba might seek normalized trade and diplomatic relations with the United States, opening an avenue for the Fuller family and others who have won judgments against Cuba to get their money directly from Havana. Castro temporarily relinquished power to his brother, Raul, in July.

"If Cuba wants to be part of the world economic community, if they want to have investments in the U.S. or have U.S. companies invest, I think they are going to have to deal with these judgments one way or another," said Joseph DeMaria, who represents families of two other men killed by the Castro government in 1961.

DeMaria was part of a legal team that in 2006 persuaded a federal judge in New York to order payment of $91 million from frozen Cuban accounts held by JP Morgan Chase Bank to families of two men who died after the failed, CIA-backed invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs in 1961.

The money came from accounts frozen originally during the Kennedy administration, including one containing Cuban payments made to AT&T. The payouts were made to the families of Howard F. Anderson, who was executed for smuggling arms into Cuba, and Thomas "Pete" Ray, a CIA pilot who was shot down during the Bay of Pigs operation.

Both families had won lawsuits against Cuba in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court. In both cases, Cuba did not answer the allegations in the lawsuits or defend itself, which is its common practice whenever the Castro government is sued in the United States.

The cases wound up before a New York federal judge because OfficeMax, through a merger with another U.S. company, asserted property claims for the Cuban Electric Co. that was confiscated by Cuba in the 1960s. OfficeMax raised questions about the validity of the Miami judgments and argued that the money should cover its claims first.

Last week, Cuba's foreign ministry issued a statement through state-run newspapers accusing the United States of robbing the Havana government of its assets and saying it does not recognize the jurisdiction of U.S. courts. The statement said the assets wrongly went to "terrorist groups or families of U.S. citizens involved in aggressions against our country."

The families took advantage of a 1996 U.S. law that allowed victims of terrorist groups or countries like Cuba that are designated as state sponsors of terrorism to sue for damages.

The same law was used by the families of three Cuban exiles who flew Brothers to the Rescue planes that were shot down by Cuban MIG fighters in 1996 to collect $93 million from the frozen assets in 2001. That represented about half of the $187 million damage award for the Miami-based group, which flew over the Straits of Florida searching for Cuban rafters and other migrants.

Still, it takes years and a great deal of lawyer time to tap into the Cuban accounts, and the banks resist paying out any money for a variety of reasons, including disputes over whether Cuba or a U.S. company is a deposit's lawful owner. Some people who have won cases have had less success in collecting, including Ana Margarita Martinez, who was awarded $27 million in 2001 after claiming that Cuba arranged her marriage to Juan Pablo Roque so he could infiltrate and allegedly spy on Miami's exile groups.

President Bush in 2005 ordered the Treasury Department to give Margarita Martinez almost $200,000 out of Cuban accounts, far less than her total judgment. Bush cited a 2002 terrorism insurance law as authority for that move.

There also remain several lawsuits pending against Cuba, including a $50 million claim by former political prisoner Nilo Jerez contending that he was repeatedly tortured at the Mazorra psychiatric hospital in Havana. That case goes to trial in Miami on Jan. 30.

At the end of 2005, there was $268.3 million in Cuban assets frozen in U.S. bank accounts, according to the most recent Treasury Department report. But that doesn't take into account the recent payments in the Anderson and Ray cases, and some of the money is exempt from payment under federal law.

About $100 million of the Fuller family's judgment could be applied to the Cuban assets, with the remaining $300 million collectible only from the Cuban government itself because it consists of punitive damages.

Cuba also faces an estimated $7 billion in claims by U.S. corporations and individuals for seizure of property and other assets after the 1959 revolution led by Castro. Those 5,911 claims are on file with the U.S. Foreign Claims Settlement Commission and include one totaling nearly $429,000 plus interest for Fuller family members.

Eventually, U.S. officials and attorneys say, Cuba will have to account for the lawsuits and claims. It may not be possible to kick people in Cuba off farmland seized decades ago, but a system should be created to satisfy those with a legitimate case, Perez said.

"Otherwise, all hell will break loose. There would be claims on all forms of commerce coming out of Cuba. The U.S. government will have to step in and negotiate to resolve these claims in an orderly fashion," he said.

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