posted December 18, 2006 01:31 PM              

Talk About It: Post Thoughts
"The party line is that Fidel is coming back. He does not have cancer," Rep. Jane Harman, a California Democrat, told reporters on Sunday.

But Rep. William Delahunt, a Massachusetts Democrat and one of the leaders of the delegation, told The New York Times that he had concluded after discussions with officials that the 80-year-old Cuban leader, who has undergone intestinal surgery, would not return to running his country on a day-to-day basis.

"The Cubans were empathetic, and I believe them, that Fidel does not have cancer and that the illness he does have is not terminal," Delahunt told the Times after returning to Washington.

Castro, who has not been seen in public since July 26, was planning to make a public appearance shortly, and if he did resume a political role, it would probably be setting broad policy, Delahunt told the newspaper.

"The functioning of the government, that transition has already occurred," it quoted him as saying.

If Castro reappears, "this will not be Fidel sitting at his desk," Delahunt told the Times. "This will be Fidel Castro is alive and recovering."

Castro did not appear at celebrations of his 80th birthday this month, prompting rumors that he had died or was near death.

The 10-member U.S. congressional delegation, was the largest to go to Cuba since Castro's 1959 revolution.

The three-day visit was aimed at improving ties between Havana and Washington. But the delegation's efforts to launch a new dialogue with Cuba on the assumption that Castro was out of the picture were rebuffed by officials who insisted he was recovering.

"What dialogue?" one Cuban official told Reuters. "The ball has been in the U.S. court for a long time."

The American legislators also failed to get a requested meeting with acting President Raul Castro, who took over the government temporarily on July 31 after his brother's surgery.

Cuba has closely guarded information on Fidel Castro's medical condition. But his closest ally, Venezuelan President Hugo, has said that although Castro does not have cancer, he is fighting a "great battle" against a "very serious" illness.

The Communist Party newspaper reported on Saturday that Fidel Castro had telephoned several Cuban lawmakers.

The visiting U.S. legislators, who favor easing restrictions on trade and travel to Cuba, said they were told that with or without Fidel Castro, the island nation would continue to be a one-party communist state.

"Cuban officials made every effort to convince us that ... the potential demise and health issues of Fidel Castro do not change the nature of the government or the policies of this country," said Rep. Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican.

The delegation met separately with the three most senior Cuban officials in charge of policy toward the United States -- Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, the ruling Communist Party international relations secretary Fernando Remirez de Esternoz and Ricardo Alarcon, president of Cuba's National Assembly.

McGovern said that, despite assurances that Fidel Castro is recovering, the Cuban leader's advanced age meant that even if he did return it would only be for a short time.

"It would be a mistake to sit around and not do anything," to change U.S. policy, which he called a "Cold War relic" that had failed to bring change to Cuba in almost half a century.

posted December 18, 2006 01:52 PM              

If that does not happen there may be a power vacuum or rival groups would rise, leading to political unrest. The country may even be torn apart in temporary civil war or faction warring until another party takes power. Some think that 'representative govt' may finally find a place in Cuba but I seriously doubt so. I think that another party will take over. What their policy will be besides implementing their own agenda (and of course benefitting themselves) it is unclear at this poitn. Some good may come out of a party/leadership change--the reins of control over cuban ppl may be eased for a while, and cuba may repair relationships with some countries such as the US if a more progressive party comes to power.

We will see.

posted December 24, 2006 07:11 PM              

(CNN) -- A Spanish surgeon has traveled to Havana to consider what steps should be taken to halt the deterioration of Cuban President Fidel Castro's health, a Spanish newspaper reported Sunday.

Dr. Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido, chief of surgery at the Spanish public hospital Gregorio Maranon de Madrid, departed Thursday for Cuba aboard an airplane the Cuban government chartered, El Periodico de Catalunya reported.

The Cuban Embassy in Spain oversaw all details of the visit, the paper said.

The plane also carried medical equipment, some of which is not available in Havana, in case surgical interventions or new therapeutic treatments are needed, the article said.

Though the doctor had been briefed by the medical team that is treating Castro, he wanted to perform his own examination before deciding if another form of treatment is appropriate, the newspaper said.

Garcia Sabrido is a specialist in general surgery who last month led a conference at the 9th Cuban Congress of Surgery in Havana.

Although Castro's doctors have not revealed the diagnosis, North American experts have raised the possibility he is suffering from a form of cancer in or around the abdomen. (Cuban officials deny Castro has terminal illness)

Castro underwent intestinal surgery on July 31, according to The Associated Press, and has not been seen in public since.

In November, the president bowed out of an appearance for his 80th birthday party because he was too ill.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has visited with Castro and denies the diagnosis involves cancer.

The president of Brazil, Luis Inacio da Silva, told a group of journalists Saturday that he plans to visit Castro in Cuba in the middle of January.

Cuban government officials told a U.S. congressional delegation last week that Castro is not dying and does not have cancer, a member of the delegation said.

In late July, Castro temporarily handed over power to his brother Raul Castro, the country's longtime defense minister. (Read full story about Raul and Fidel).

The change in leadership caused fierce speculation over whether Fidel Castro was close to death.

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