Castro Not Expected Back Any Time Soon
Cuban officials have now backed away from a prediction that Fidel Castro would be back in charge of Cuba by early December. In other words, he's still dead or dying.
HAVANA - Cuba's foreign minister backed away Monday from his prediction that Fidel Castro will return to power by early December, raising questions about the pace of the communist leader's recovery from intestinal surgery.
Felipe Perez Roque also told The Associated Press that there was no guarantee that Castro would be well enough to attend the postponed celebration of his 80th birthday on Dec. 2. Castro turned 80 on Aug. 13 but announced delayed festivities when he told Cubans of his surgery in late July.
Perez Roque had told the AP in September that he expected Castro to be fully back at the helm by early December, and when asked about the birthday celebrations had said: "I have no questions in my mind that we will be able to celebrate his birthday in December as he deserves."
But in an interview Monday, Perez Roque said he couldn't discuss whether Castro would return to power so quickly.
"It's a subject on which I don't want to speculate," he said, adding: "The important thing is his recovery, which he's doing in a serious and persistent manner."
Yeah, right. The last photos they released showed a very, very sick man and there really is no way to tell when they were actually taken.
World news | Gaius Monday, 6 November , 2006
By Bleepless, Monday, 6 November , 2006 @ 1:23 pm
One interesting thing about those photos is that either they all were taken in one session or Fidel never changes his clothes.