Reprinted from Caribbean Net News
caribbeannetnews.com

Sister says Castro doing well
08-05-2006

MIAMI, USA (UPI): Contrary to rumors within Florida's Cuban community, the sister of Cuban leader Fidel Castro says she has learned her brother is doing well after surgery.

Juanita Castro Ruz, 73, who fled from Cuba 40 years ago and now owns a pharmacy in Miami, did not say how she learned about her brother's condition but apparently she has been on the phone with family and friends in Cuba's capital Havana, reports USA Today.

The Cuban government said Monday Castro had emergency intestinal surgery. Since then numerous rumors about Castro, including one that he had died, have circulated within the Cuban community in Florida.

"The surgery was a major surgery. He's doing OK. He's out of intensive care, and he's in his own room," the sister was quoted as saying.

A lawyer in the Cuban community told the newspaper that Castro's public absence and the official explanation that he is recuperating are at odds with his hunger for the limelight.

"It could be that he's dead, or had a stroke or is incapacitated, and they have to figure out how to deal with this," he said.

An attorney from an anti-Castro group said, "The craziest rumor is that he staged this whole thing. That there's nothing wrong with him. He's done this to see if, in fact, the Cuban people would support his brother, and the military would follow."