Fidel Castro statement a ‘lie’

MADRID – Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro is in “very grave” condition after three failed operations and complications from the intestinal infection diverticulitis, a Spanish newspaper has reported.

A Cuban diplomat called the report a “lie.” In its report Tuesday, El Pais newspaper cited two unnamed medical sources from Gregorio Maranon hospital in Madrid.The facility employs surgeon Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido, who flew to Cuba in December to treat the 80-year-old Castro, 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.”Garcia Sabrido, the Madrid hospital’s chief surgeon, could not be reached directly for comment Tuesday.But in an interview with Spanish newspaper ABC, Sabrido said the only trustworthy information about Castro’s health is what “comes from his medical team, and the rest are rumours, inaccuracies and things that are absolutely false.”He 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.”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 went for the inauguration of leftist President Rafael Correa.Nampa-APIn its report Tuesday, El Pais newspaper cited two unnamed medical sources from Gregorio Maranon hospital in Madrid.The facility employs surgeon Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido, who flew to Cuba in December to treat the 80-year-old Castro, 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.”Garcia Sabrido, the Madrid hospital’s chief surgeon, could not be reached directly for comment Tuesday.But in an interview with Spanish newspaper ABC, Sabrido said the only trustworthy information about Castro’s health is what “comes from his medical team, and the rest are rumours, inaccuracies and things that are absolutely false.”He 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.”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 went for the inauguration of leftist President Rafael Correa.Nampa-AP