A Spanish doctor who examined Cuban President Fidel Castro rebutted reports on Tuesday that the leader was dying.
On his return to Spain after visiting Cuba since Thursday, Jose Luis Garcma Sabrido, a chief surgeon at a Madrid hospital, denied "absolutely" that Castro had cancer.
Castro, 80, who reportedly underwent intestinal surgery on July 27, "is not suffering from a malignant illness but from a benign process with a series of complications," the surgeon told a news conference in Madrid.
The Cuban leader is "in a process of slow but progressive recovery" and does not need further surgery, he said, declining to give further details, citing patient confidentiality.
Asked whether Castro was suffering from cancer, Garcia Sabrido said: "I absolutely deny that, based on the information I have."
The Cuban leader, who has been in power since 1959, has not been seen in public for five months. There have been few medical updates since his reported surgery, after which he handed over power temporarily to his brother, Acting President Raul Castro.
Tightly controlled state media published no news on Tuesday of the Spanish surgeon's health update on the ailing leader.
But a source at the Cuban ministry in Madrid, cited by Spanish news agency Europa Press, called the news "very positive" and the report "rigorous."
In Cuba, the rumors about the doctor's report were flying. "Already at my house we know it and people in the neighborhood told my mother, that for sure it will be seen by antenna [illegal satellite television]," a youth in a crowded sector of Havana told reporters.
A 20-year-old University of Havana student said anonymously: "We would like more specific information, even if [Fidel Castro] does not appear in public; but we would like some message from the Comandante, an explanation."
Castro is `Fine'
Garcia Sabrido, who heads a surgery unit at Gregorio Maranon university hospital and is described by the Spanish media as a top gastroenterologist, described Castro's condition as "fine."
"Every day he asks to go back to work but the doctors won't allow it," he said after his visit to Cuba late last week.
He said he was full of admiration at Castro's "excellent and fantastic intellectual activity."
He examined Castro on the request of Havana and told reporters he had traveled to the island on "a strictly personal basis" after informing all relevant authorities in Spain.
It was his first medical examination of the Cuban leader, but he said several members of Castro's personal medical team were old acquaintances.
In Cuba, Castro's health is being treated as a state secret.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in