[NYTr] The Weekly Breathless Friday Fidel Health Report from Reuters
 
Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2007 20:43:06 -0500 (CDT)

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
Reuters via Yahoo - Sep 21, 2007
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070921/wl_nm/cuba_castro_chavez_dc

Cuba's Castro nearly died but is OK now: Chavez

MANAUS, Brazil (Reuters) - Cuban leader Fidel Castro nearly died and
underwent several blood transfusions in which almost all his blood was
exchanged, but he is now doing well, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
said on Friday.

It was not clear if Chavez was talking about a recent relapse in the
health of Castro, 81, or if he was recounting complications that he
suffered after undergoing emergency surgery more than a year ago due to
an intestinal problem.

"Fidel is well, clearly he has not finished his recovery. He has a
little problem there but he can live like this another 100 years,"
Chavez told reporters during a visit to Brazil's Amazon city of Manaus.

"What problem does he have? Well, one operation, two operations, three
operations, 81-years-old, he almost died. They transfused nearly all
Fidel's blood, he is still alive because he's Fidel. They gave him I
don't know how many transfusions," said Chavez, a close friend and ally
of the veteran communist.

Castro relinquished power to his brother Raul on July 31, 2006 after he
fell ill and has not appeared in public since then.

Video footage of meetings with Chavez and other foreign leaders
appeared to show a steady improvement in his health early this year but
no footage or pictures have been released since early June, fueling
speculation that his condition may have worsened.

Senior Cuban officials said on Thursday that the Cuban leader, who
seized power in Cuba's 1959 revolution, continues to recover from his
health crisis, but they gave no indication he would return to office.

Vice President Carlos Lage said Castro's recovery was evident from his
prolific output of newspaper columns and essays on international issues
and political history.

"Fidel is recovering," Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque told
reporters in Havana. "It has been a fertile period of work, reading,
studying and writing, while keeping in touch with and being involved in
the country's main decisions, on which he is consulted," he said.

Castro's illness remains a closely guarded state secret.

Chavez, who visited Castro in June for six hours, said he last spoke
with his political mentor two or three weeks ago and that Venezuela's
energy minister spoke with Castro last week.

Chavez was in Manaus for a meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio
Lula da Silva and Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa.

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