Castro Doctor Disputes Newspaper Report

A Spanish surgeon who treated Fidel Castro last December in Cuba dismissed a newspaper report that claimed the 80-year-old Cuban leader was in "very grave" condition after three failed operations and complications from the intestinal infection diverticulitis.

Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido Wednesday told Spanish newspaper ABC the only trustworthy information about Castro's health is what "comes from his medical team, and the rest are rumors, inaccuracies and things that are absolutely false."

A Cuban diplomat called the report, which appeared Tuesday in the newspaper El Pais, a "lie."

In its report, El Pais cited two unnamed medical sources from Gregorio Maranon hospital in Madrid, but one of the journalists who wrote the article told The Associated Press that Garcia Sabrido was not one of the two sources. The journalist, Oriol Guell, said the sources were both doctors at the hospital, but declined to identify them.

El Pais said "A grave infection in the large intestine, at least three failed operations and various complications have left the Cuban dictator, Fidel Castro, laid up with a very grave prognosis."

El Pais said that in December, when Garcia Sabrido visited, Castro had an abdominal wound that was leaking more than half a liter (1 pint) of fluids a day, causing "a severe loss of nutrients." The Cuban leader was being fed intravenously, the report said.

Garcia Sabrido, the Madrid hospital's chief surgeon, declined comment Wednesday when approached by AP Television near the hospital.

Garcia Sabrido provided no new details about Castro's health.

A Cuban diplomat in Madrid said the newspaper's report was "an invented story."

"It's another lie and we are not going to talk about it. If anyone has to talk about Castro's illness it's Havana," said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with normal diplomatic practice.

"It's an invented story. I don't know anything about this."

In a related story Wednesday, El Pais said Castro himself took part in a decision by his doctors on which of two operations to undergo at the start of his treatment last year.

After removing an inflamed piece of his large intestine, they connected the remainder directly to his rectum, rather than attaching a colostomy bag, El Pais said, quoting medical sources at the Spanish hospital. The operation failed when the suture failed to take hold.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a close friend and political ally of Castro, said he had spoken with the Cuban leader a few days ago and denied that his condition was grave.

"I'm not a doctor, I'm not at the foot of Fidel's bed, but it's not like they say: neither grave, nor does he have cancer," Chavez told journalists on Tuesday in the Ecuadorean capital of Quito, where he had traveled for the inauguration of leftist President Rafael Correa.

Cuba has released little information on Castro's condition since he temporarily ceded power in July to his brother, Defense Minister Raul Castro, until he could recover from emergency intestinal surgery, prompting much speculation and rumor in the country and around the world.

El Pais' report, which could not immediately be confirmed, was a rare detailed description from a major media outlet about Castro's condition.

However, White House press secretary Tony Snow said the El Pais report appeared to be "just sort of a roundup of previous health reports. We've got nothing new."

The U.S. government had speculated that Castro could suffer from cancer — a supposition denied by Garcia Sabrido. Some U.S. doctors believed Castro was suffering from diverticular disease, which can cause bleeding in the lower intestine, especially in people over 60. In severe cases, emergency surgery may be required.

That idea was supported by El Pais, which reported that its sources said Castro had suffered a bout of the disease.

"In the summer, the Cuban leader bled abundantly in the intestine," El Pais reported. "This adversity led him to the operating table, according to the medical sources. His condition, moreover, was aggravated because the infection spread and caused peritonitis, the inflammation of the membrane that covers the digestive organs."

The newspaper reported that Castro's recovery from the first operation, in which surgeons removed part of his large intestine, did not go well and resulted in peritonitis.

A second operation to clean and drain the infected area was conducted. Doctors removed the remainder of Castro's large intestine and created an artificial anus. But this operation also failed, El Pais said.

The Cuban leader was then hit with inflammation of the bile duct. He developed a condition called cholecystitis, which is an inflammation of the gall bladder. El Pais said this condition has an 80 percent mortality rate.

A small prosthetic device made in South Korea was implanted in the bile duct and failed, and later replaced with one made in Spain, the report said.

A statement attributed to Castro was released on New Year's Eve saying his recovery was "far from being a lost battle."

Cuban officials told visiting U.S. lawmakers last month that Castro does not have cancer or a terminal illness and will eventually return to public life, although it was not clear whether he would return to the same kind of absolute control as before.