Cuban Parliament speaker says Fidel Castro "is recovering well"

Jan 26, 2007, 23:25 GMT

Havana - Six months after his last public appearance, Cuban President Fidel Castro was recovering 'very well,' official sources said in rare remarks about his health in Havana.

'He is still exercising the leadership of the country, and in all these months of recovery he has followed with discipline all the indications and orders of the doctors,' Parliament Speaker Ricardo Alarcon said, according to media reports Friday.

He added that even those who currently falsify news 'must recognize Cuba's health and normality.'

The comments marked the third time this week that officials have spoken of Castro's intestinal illness which has been treated with several surgeries. Alarcon's emphasis on the 'normality' of the country could be seen as a reassurance that there will be a calm transition when Castro, the world's longest-serving leader, dies.

Last Saturday, the tone was not so optimistic when Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, one of Castro's closest political allies, said the leader was seriously ill and 'fighting for his life.'

Castro was going through a difficult situation, Chavez said, and people should not forget that the machine that has to be repaired is 80 years old. He added that Castro was a man who like the late Cuban-Argentinian freedom fighter Che Guevara 'will never die.'

On Thursday, Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage was in Venezuela, where he declared Cuba would have Castro and his brother Raul, who has taken temporary control of the country, 'for a long time yet, and will have socialism forever.'

Castro, who has ruled Cuba for 47 years, transferred responsibility for governmental affairs to his younger brother in July 2006 before undergoing surgery. The health of Fidel Castro, is considered a state secret in Cuba.

Spanish daily El Pais reported earlier this month that the elder Castro was in 'very serious' condition following at least three failed operations.

Castro's health had deteriorated following complications from an intestinal infection, the daily said, citing medical sources from the Gregorio Maranon hospital in Madrid.

The hospital employs Spanish top surgeon Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido, who has been treating Castro, but El Pais did not name its sources.

Doctor Sabrido flew to Cuba in December. He denied reports claiming that Castro suffered from cancer.

The Cuban leader has not been seen in public since last July, and in December missed a massive military parade in Havana marking 50 years since his return from exile.

In his New Year message, Castro said he was recovering slowly from the surgery, but added it would be a 'long process.'