Wednesday, December 20, 2006

by Antonio Rodriguez

WASHINGTON, USA (AFP): US lawmakers back from a trip to Cuba on Monday cast doubt on officials there who insisted Fidel Castro was not dying and would return to power.

"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," Republican representative Jeff Flake told AFP when asked his reaction to the official Cuban line.

"Cuban officials they tried in every way to convince us that this is temporary, that the policy isn't going to change, but neither is Fidel Castro," said Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican.

"'He'll be back,' was the story, and 'he doesn't have terminal cancer,' is what government officials told us," he told CNN.

"In fact, we were told while we were in Cuba that the medical doctors treating Fidel Castro are sequestered, are isolated even from their own families," he said.

Castro has not been seen in public since July 26 and failed to show up at a December 2 military parade organized in honor of his 80th birthday.

The ailing Cuban leader temporarily handed over power on July 31 to his brother, who is also Cuba's defense minister, after undergoing intestinal surgery.

California Representative Jane Harman also voiced her doubts, after three days of meetings with Cuban officials, including national assembly president Ricardo Alarcon and Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque.

"I'm not a medical doctor and I'm not a psychic. Seems to me, however, the pictures and the absence of Castro in any meaningful way demonstrates that he's probably not coming back."

Harman said Cuban officials were unhappy about comments by senior US officials that Castro is near death.

"The Cuban officials we met expressed disappointment about statements of some US intelligence officials," she said.

She appeared to be referring to comments by US Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte, who told the Washington Post that Castro was very ill and likely had "months, not years" to live.

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 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 they 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.

However, they did not meet with Raul Castro, Flake said.

"They told us that Fidel is coming back," Flake said.

"A meeting with Raul would have sent a different signal," said the leader of the group of ten 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.

  Most popular articles: viewed, printed and e-mailed

  Printable version