Castro steps aside after illness

HAVANA: Cuban President Fidel Castro, Latin America’s sole surviving Communist strongman, ceded power to his brother Raul on a temporary basis for the first time in 47 years, after undergoing what he called delicate intestinal surgery.

The ageing but still fiery leftist leader, who turns 80 on August 13, said late Monday in a statement read on Cuban television that he would be out for “some weeks” following the operation to stem intestinal bleeding. The seriousness of Castro’s condition was not immediately clear but news he had relinquished power sparked hopeful celebrations among Cuban exiles in Miami who had been waiting decades for his demise.

The White House, where a succession of US presidents had plotted Castro’s downfall, stayed low key but watchful. “We are monitoring the situation. We don’t want to speculate on his health,” Peter Watkins, a White House spokesman, said. “We will continue to work for the day of Cuba’s freedom.” 

Castro has been a major world figure since his band of bearded guerrillas seized power from dictator Fulgencio Batista in January 1959. His rule has been marked by momentous events such as the Cuban missile crisis and the failed US-backed Bay of Pigs invasion in the 1960s.

Castro blamed his ailment on the intense agenda of recent trips to Argentina and eastern Cuba. “Working day and night and barely sleeping has taken its toll on my health, which has withstood everything, has undergone extreme stress and has become brittle,” he said in a statement read by his personal secretary Carlos Valenciaga. “That touched off an acute intestinal distress with sustained bleeding, which forced me to undergo delicate surgery,” he said.  The operations will “force me to forgo my responsibilities and duties for a few weeks.” 

Castro also asked that his birthday celebration be postponed to December 2, the 50th anniversary of his landing in southeastern Cuba and the start of his armed campaign in the Sierra Maestra mountains. Castro, who is scheduled to become president of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) at its meeting in Havana in September, seemed to suggest a long recovery when he said the NAM meeting “must get top attention from the government and the Cuban nation”.

Castro recently attended a Mercosur summit in Cordoba, Argentina, where he appeared in an olive green military uniform. Three days after returning to Cuba, Castro spent on last Wednesday travelling in the eastern provinces of Bayamo and Holguin, to preside over the celebration of the 53rd anniversary of the failed assault on the Moncada Barracks, which marked the start of the revolution. 

During a two and a half hour speech in Bayamo, Castro joked that he did not plan to be leading Cuba if and when he hits the 100-year mark. “To our little neighbours to the north,” he said “don’t be alarmed: I am not thinking about being in office at that age.” Speculation about Castro’s health peaked after a fall in 2004, when he injured his right arm and left knee. Last November, the Cuban leader, who stopped smoking cigars in 1985 and now exercises every day, said he had recovered from these injuries.

Other official were also delegated responsibilities. He handed Vice President Carlos Lage responsibility for Cuba’s energy matters. Health Minister Jose Ramon Balaguer will take over national and international health programmes. Politburo members Jose Ramon Machado and Esteban Lazo will handle education.