World Watch
January 14, 2009 5:55 PM

Is Fidel Castro Gravely Ill?

By
Ken Millstone
Topics
World Watch
(CBS)
Rumors that Cuban leader Fidel Castro is dead or close to death seem to surface every few months.

But a longtime Castro watcher in the intelligence community says the latest bout of rumors "smells a little different," reports CBS News' David Martin. The source says that they are coming in from so many different places that he gives more credence to them than usual.

CBS News' Portia Siegelbaum in Havana says that rumors have definitely increased during the past two weeks, fueled in particularly by remarks by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who during a weekly radio and television address said Castro would never return to public life and but would "live on" beyond physical life.

The Miami Herald marshals further evidence of Castro's ill health. According to The Herald:

  • El Pa?s newspaper in Spain reported Wednesday that there were apparent movements at the Armed Forces and Interior Ministries Friday after Castro suffered a "possible'' heart attack. Another Spain-based web site, Cubaecuentro.com, reported that his condition was ''irreversible."

  • "High sources in Washington are saying that reliable sources have said that he has taken gravely ill," said University of Miami's Andy Gomez, who serves as an advisor to the U.S. Task Force on Cuba, an arm of the Brookings Institution think tank comprised of academics and former diplomats. "They are monitoring this very closely, including looking for additional movements of security and troops. So far, none of this has happened."

  • Castro has been absent from public view for more than two years and has stopped writing a regular published commentary.

    On the other hand Siegelbaum and a Herald source both report talking to high-level Cuban officials and hearing nothing to indicate that the rumors are true.

    "He sounded relaxed, and was switching TV channels between Hillary testimony and Chavez State of the Union," Siegelbaum writes. "I mentioned the turmoil in Miami and he expressed surprise that they would 'so misunderstand' what Chavez said."

    Both Siegelbaum and Martin's intelligence source stress that there is no confirmation that Castro's situation is dire or that the Cuban government is making preparations for Castro's death.

    Siegelbaum adds that despite the frequent rumors of Castro's demise, when he really did fall gravely ill in July, 2006, "no one anywhere had the slightest idea."

    "There was a hermetically sealed circle around him and not until the government read an official statement from him did the world learn that his health was seriously impaired. There is no reason to think that any information will leak out now either," Siegelbaum writes.

    Perhaps more importantly, Castro handed power to his brother Raul after that bout with illness. The Herald reports that "government sources in Cuba have said that Castro remained in control as recently as October, even making calls and barking orders to high-level officials," but most reports place Raul Castro firmly in control.

    Fidel Castro's death, then, would be symbolically important, but would have little practical effect in Cuba.

    • Ken Millstone

      Ken Millstone is an assignment editor at CBSNews.com

    Add a Comment See all 19 Comments
    by castrodead December 11, 2011 3:56 PM EST
    Fidel Castro is Dead by Pradeep Persaud

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fidel_Castro_Dead.jpg

    http://www.castrodead.com

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    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fidel-Castro-is-Dead-ebook/dp/B005HSPMDU

    Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8618-503543_162-4722212.html?assetTypeId=41&messageId=11692253&tag=socialToolBarBottom;accordionB#ixzz1gGHMWMqo
    Reply to this comment
    by castrodead December 11, 2011 3:52 PM EST
    Fidel Castro is Dead by Pradeep Persaud

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fidel_Castro_Dead.jpg

    http://www.castrodead.com

    http://www.facebook.com/Fidel.Castro.is.Dead

    http://www.**********/Fidel-Castro-is-Dead-ebook/dp/B005HSPMDU

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fidel-Castro-is-Dead-ebook/dp/B005HSPMDU
    Reply to this comment
    by elramees January 17, 2009 8:46 AM EST
    I pray, The LORD restores Mr. Castro to good health, so that he may see the errors of his ways and gain foregiveness, because hell is a reality.
    Reply to this comment
    by brianbwb-2009 January 16, 2009 7:05 AM EST
    "How that promise soon turned to outrage and dispair in the free world and Cuba." Posted by RLOFLAW

    Only to the slavemasters who lost their slaves, the slaves thought it quite cool.

    Now they are educated enough to complain about the lack of services, soon they will be educated enough to do something about it, and hopefully they will do it themselves, without interference by the US and other colonialists.
    Reply to this comment
    by brianbwb-2009 January 16, 2009 7:01 AM EST
    "Hopefully he is gravely ill. He is one of the greatest oppressors of all time. Just look at the standatd of living in Cuba. Proof that communism does not work." Posted by wvu74621

    Lets see, subsidized health care, free education through college, guaranteed housing, hmm,... Seems we could use some of what Castro was smoking.

    At any rate, any deficiencies were caused by the US embargo, so your statement is akin to denying a man soap and water, then complaining about his body odor.
    Reply to this comment
    by rloflaw January 15, 2009 7:10 PM EST
    I remember as a boy Castro making his victorious entry to Havanna and the great promise of that day.How that promise soon turned to outrage and dispair in the free world and Cuba.

    Noe Castro will die on a Cuban holiday.

    Whenever he dies will be a holiday for the people of Cuba.
    Reply to this comment
    by johndoe11-2009 January 15, 2009 4:54 PM EST
    leave my dawg fidel alone. that ***** is straight up gangsta. but even gangstaz gotta die. let him die in peace
    Reply to this comment
    by glidescube January 15, 2009 12:09 PM EST
    Obama is so awesome that all he has to do is will the death of our enemies and they drop dead. I''m sure Bin Laden will be captured within a day of his inaguration.
    :-D
    Reply to this comment
    by mytoosense January 15, 2009 11:47 AM EST
    Is Fidel Castro Gravely Ill?


    Yeah, since 1959.
    Reply to this comment
    by wvu74621 January 15, 2009 11:10 AM EST
    Hopefully he is gravely ill. He is one of the greatest oppressors of all time. Just look at the standatd of living in Cuba. Proof that communism does not work.
    Reply to this comment
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