Fidel is recovering: Raul Castro

HAVANA: Cuban President Fidel Castro is recovering gradually, Raul Castro said in an interview published on Friday. This is his first public remarks since his ailing elder brother temporarily handed him power last month.  

Raul Castro, 75, thanked the doctors and others who have attended to his brother with an unsurpassable professionalism and, above all, with much love and dedication.   

This has been a very important factor in Fidel's progressive recovery, he said in an interview published on Friday in the Communist Party newspaper 'Granma'.   

Cuba's government announced on July 31 that Fidel Castro, who turned 80 on August 13, underwent surgery for intestinal bleeding and delegated government functions provisionally to his brother Raul, head of the Cuban armed forces and his designated successor.   

The appointment sparked speculation that Fidel Castro's 47-year rule on the island might be ending. Neither Raul nor Fidel Castro appeared in public until August 13 when Raul appeared on state television.

Video images of Fidel were released a day later. "As a point of fact, I am not used to making frequent appearances in public, except at times when it is required," Raul Castro said in the 'Granma' interview.    

He said he was not concerned with those in other countries who entertain themselves by speculating about if I am going to appear on television or in the papers or not.