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Phones buzz with
rumors of Castro's demise
Herald Staff Reports. Posted
on Sat, Jan. 17, 2004 in The
Miami Herald.
Uncorroborated rumors that Cuban President
Fidel Castro had died or suffered a stroke
buzzed around Miami-Dade County on Friday,
with anxious callers inundating police departments,
media outlets and exile groups.
''We've gotten hundreds of calls, mostly
from the media, but also from our own officers
and some members of the public,'' said Miami-Dade
police spokesman Randy Rossman. "At
this point, we are not mobilizing anyone
for anything special at this time.''
The latest rumor -- something that has
occurred frequently over the years -- appears
to have spawned from comments published
Wednesday from Luis Eduardo Garzón,
the leftist mayor of Bogotá, Colombia.
He said that Castro appeared to be ''very
sick'' during their talks in late December.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez
met with his friend Castro in Cuba on Wednesday,
Cuban state television reported, without
offering details of the visit.
One senior exile community leader said
he was contacted by a CIA official Friday
to ask what he knew about it.
A foreign correspondent in Havana took
a precautionary drive past Castro's offices
in the Palace of the Revolution Friday afternoon
and reported that all seemed normal.
Officials at the Cuban American National
Foundation said many of the 100-plus callers
to their Miami office said they saw or heard
about something on TV that suggested Castro
might have suffered a stroke or worse.
''It's a rumor that started yesterday,''
CANF executive director Joe Garcia said
Friday afternoon. "It's wishful thinking.
I don't have anything on it. But it's gotta
be right some time.''
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