CUBA: Cubans react to news that leader Fidel Castro will be able to receive foreign dignitaries in private during an upcoming summit of developing nations

Cubans recognize that their leader Fidel Castro looks ill, but believe him when he says he will make a full recovery from the undisclosed illness that forced him to turn over power to his brother. Castro said in a published statement on Tuesday (September 5, 2006) he has put the worst of his health crisis behind him and will be able to receive foreign dignitaries in private during a summit of developing nations next week. The eighty-year-old says he lost 41 lbs (18.6 kg) in a few days after undergoing emergency surgery to stop intestinal bleeding caused by an unexpected health problem on July 26, but he is recovering at a "satisfactory pace". The Cuban leader has still not appeared in public since the operation, and the statement was released by the ruling Communist Party newspaper Granma, with photographs of him reading and writing in a rocking chair. A thinner Castro appeared in pajamas and slippers in what looked like a hospital room. Castro said the last of his stitches was removed after 34 days of convalescence and he has been busy proofing a second edition of a book of interviews he gave Spanish journalist Ignacio Ramonet. Cubans now say they know their leader is not invincible, but they expect him to recover well. "When a person is ill, they get a bit thin, but he looks like he has the will to recovery, because look how he speaks, how he moves his hands and how he stops. He is well and it seems we are going to have him with us for many years," one Cuban Jose Manuel Gonzalez said. Castro, in power since a 1959 revolution, stunned Cuba on July 31 when he ceded the presidency and leadership of the ruling Communist Party temporarily to his brother Raul Castro while he recovers from the operation. Rumours that he had died swirled until photographs and video images of a frail and bedridden Castro were released on his birthday Aug 13. "He is in on the road to recovery. We are not going to think that he is going to come out of this jumping around. No he has to look after himself because he still has much to do here," Cuban local Elina Gonzalez said. "We can see that he is really unwell, he really was ill, but now these days we are sure that he is going to recover completely, that he is moving forward, getting better, because his country needs him," Cuban local Juan Perez said. Cuba will host a summit of the Non-aligned Movement of 116 developing nations next week in Havana. Many nations from Africa, Asia and Latin America will be represented. Castro is not expected to be strong enough to host the event, which some 50 heads of state are due to attend. But a brief appearance has not been ruled out.

ITN Source | September 6, 2006

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