|
|
|
|
News from the Caribbean as of
|
US lawmakers assured Castro does not have cancer
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
WASHINGTON, USA (AFP): US lawmakers back from a trip to Cuba said Monday officials there had insisted Fidel Castro was not dying, and that his brother Raul Castro is not Havana's new leader.
"They told us that Fidel is coming back," Republican representative Jeff Flake told AFP.
"A meeting with Raul would have sent a different signal," said the leader of the group of 10 lawmakers, the largest such group ever to visit communist Cuba.
"Nobody was willing to say that there was going to be any change," he said.
As for interim leader Raul Castro's offer to hold talks with US officials, Flake said, "I believe them about the same as I believe them when they say they want us to lift the embargo. I'm not sure they do."
Democrat representative Bill Delahunt told the New York Times Monday that while Fidel Castro is expected to recover, he might not return to leading the Caribbean country.
"The Cubans were emphatic, and I believe them, that Fidel does not have cancer and that the illness he does have is not terminal," he said.
"This will not be Fidel sitting at this desk: this will be, Fidel Castro is alive and recovering," he told the Times.
Flake and Delahunt are members of the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Relations and leading members of the Cuba Working Group, which aims to foster better political, economic and cultural ties.
The others in the delegation were Democrats Harman, Hilda Solis, James McGovern, Gregory Meeks and Lincoln Davis; and Republicans Jo Ann Emerson, Mike Conaway and Jerry Moran.
They called on the White House to engage with Raul Castro in talks on easing bilateral relations, and for the US and Cuba to continue dialogue on immigration, drug trafficking, the capture of fugitives, the environment and oil exploration.
While in Cuba they met with Ricardo Alarcon, president of Cuba's National Assembly and the top official for US affairs.
On Saturday the attended a reception with Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, and held meetings with central bank governor Francisco Soberon and Basic Industries Minister Yadira Garcia, an influential member of the Politburo of Cuba's Communist Party.
Back...
Most popular articles: viewed, printed and e-mailed
 Printable version
|
|
