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Castro Reported to Have
Cancer
U.S. intelligence reports
now say the Cuban leader's condition appears
terminal, government officials tell TIME
By Sally B. Donnelly and
Timothy J. Burger/Washington. TIME,
October 6, 2006.
Ever since President Fidel Castro was sidelined
for what was said to be abdominal surgery
last July, Cuban officials have maintained
that the country's leader will return to
his post. "We will again have him leading
the revolution," said Foreign Minister
Felipe P�rez Roque
just two days ago, speaking at an outdoor
rally to protest the U.S. trade embargo
against Cuba, according to the Communist
Party daily newspaper Granma.
But U.S. officials tell TIME that many
in the U.S. government are now convinced
that Castro, 80, has terminal cancer and
will never return to power. "Certainly
we have heard this, that this guy has terminal
cancer," said one U.S. official.
Of course, such intelligence reports could
be wrong, and one official cautioned that
definitive proof is nearly impossible for
the U.S. to come by. Yet the fact that the
Cuban government removed Castro from the
public stage before his death could suggest
that Castro and his would-be successors
were aware of a terminal condition and wanted
to gauge public reaction to his absence.
"They got to see how people would react,"
says one U.S. official. "They have
had a chance to see how things might work
without out him functioning day-to-day."
Contacted by TIME, the Cuban government
denied the imminent demise of its leader.
One high-ranking official said, "The
United States Intelligence Services have
been wrong for more than 47 years in their
predictions not only in relation to the
health of the Cuban President but also in
all aspects regarding our country."
He referred to Castro's July 31 statement
as the only definitive assessment of the
President's health. In it, Castro declared
that surgery and treatment for intestinal
bleeding "obliges me to spend several
weeks in repose, away from my responsibilities
and duties." Cuban sources say that
preparations continue for a belated but
elaborate celebration of Castro's 80th birthday
on Dec. 2.
The U.S. government has been preparing
for Castro's departure for half a century.
That doesn't mean that things will change
much. Fidel's brother Raul, 75, has been
acting president since Fidel went into the
hospital and has given no indication that
he will change the policies of the isolated
Communist government that has tormented
the U.S. since taking power in 1959. Though
he has until recently kept a very low profile,
Raul Castro - not Fidel - was feted as the
host of the non-aligned nations' summit
on Sept. 15. Then Raul called a high-profile
meeting of the country's local, provincial
and national leadership at what he called
"this historic moment in our country's
history." In another sign of his increasing
prominence, two weeks ago Raul delivered
his first televised national speech at the
close of a trade union federation congress.
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