Cuba Watch: Cuba Awaits Verdict on Castro’s Health

A woman walks near a photograph of Cuba’s President Fidel Castro in Havana in this file picture. A renowned Spanish surgeon has been rushed to Cuba to try to stop a steady deterioration in Fidel Castro’s health, a Spanish newspaper reported on Sunday.

AFP: Cuba awaits Spanish doc’s verdict on Castro’s health

Cuba was on tenterhooks over Fidel Castro’s fragile health, as residents of the Communist island awaited a visiting Spanish doctor’s diagnosis on whether additional surgery is needed.

Officials in Madrid confirmed Monday that a Spanish surgeon had been dispatched to Cuba to treat Castro, 80, who has not been seen in public for five months. Few medical updates have been made public since his reported intestinal surgery.

“The Cuban government decided to ask one of our top professionals to care for its president,” Manuel Lamela, health councilor for Madrid’s regional government, told reporters.

“When a government asks for help or collaboration, health officials respond,” Lamedo added, appearing to confirm a Spanish newspaper report, which identified the physician as Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido, head of surgery at Madrid’s Gregorio Maranon hospital.

Separately, Spain’s Cadena Ser radio described Garcia as a well-known specialist in digestive problems.

Castro’s brother, interim leader Raul Castro, has said the Cuban leader’s recovery continues apace, but his continued absence from the public eye has fueled widespread speculation that he may be seriously ill and perhaps even near death.

US Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte told the newspaper The Washington Post earlier this month that Castro was likely to survive “months, not years.”

Obviously, Castro and his government are grasping at life and the last straws for Castro’s government. United States national security officials, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met last thursday to discuss Cuba and the aftermath of a Castro death.

President George W. Bush’s national security adviser Stephen Hadley chaired the 90-minute meeting on Thursday that included Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other officials, National Security Council press secretary Gordon Johndroe said on Saturday.

“We’re engaged in an interagency process that is focused on a successful transition to democracy for the people of Cuba,” Johndroe said.

Stay tuned for likely another surgery or the announcement of hospice care.

Two workers lean on a poster depicting Cuban President Fidel Castro in Havana on 19 December 2006. Cuba was on tenterhooks over Castro’s fragile health, as residents of the Communist island awaited a visiting Spanish doctor’s diagnosis on whether additional surgery is needed.

Discuss this blog post and MORE…. at the FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog’s Discussion Forum, My Dental Forum.
Previous:

Cuba Watch: Is Fidel Castro Dead?

Technorati Tags: Cuba, FidelCastro