Fidel Castro Has Intestinal Surgery
Via Reuters:
Cuban President Fidel Castro underwent intestinal surgery on Monday and delegated government functions provisionally to his younger brother Raul Castro, the government said in a televised statement signed by the Cuban leader.
Castro, who turns 80 on August 13 and has led Cuba since a 1959 revolution, delegated his posts as first secretary of the ruling Communist Party, commander in chief of the armed forces and president of the executive council of state to his brother.
I know you’re incredibly worried, but please don’t. He’s going to be fine. His doctors have already said that he’s going to live to 140. And why would they lie?
UPDATE: Val Prieto at Babalu Blog is all over this story with lots of updates and, according to the AP, it doesn’t look good for Fidel:
“The operation obligates me to undertake several weeks of rest,” said [Castro’s] letter. Extreme stress “had provoked in me a sharp intestinal crisis with sustained bleeding that obligated me to undergo a complicated surgical procedure.”
Castro said he was temporarily relinquishing the presidency to his younger brother and successor Raul, the defense minister, but said the move was of “a provisional character.” There was no immediate appearance or statement by Raul Castro.
Tells you more about the life expectancy of the doctor if he told the truth, than it does about Castro’s own life expectancy.
I’m not worried. The good die you.
Gack. “Young.”
His spokesman is now saying he is undergoing intestinal surgery due to stress. What? Is that some Marxist dialectic double talk?
Regardless, he isn’t dead yet, but the USA will have another political hot potato when he dies, as some elderly Cubans refugees (not only from the USA) and their descendants attempt to reclaim their place on top of the Cuban hierarchy. I once watched a “Cuba Libre” rally in Florida and thought these folks are living in the past.
Forgot to add, probably the best blog coverage will be here – http://www.babalublog.com/archives/003693.html
fidel castro Death Watch, Take 2846. He states, “I feel I must urge everyone to take this news – however absolutely grand it is – with a grain of salt. castro has “died” many times before, only to then reappear like genital herpes. Let’s all keep the champagne chilled, but let’s not be popping any corks just yet.”
CNN is showing folks dancing in the streets of Little Havana in Miami. And the planes to Havana from Miami are full of reporters. Yes, there is scheduled airline service between the two, but it takes special permission from the USA to get on the plane.