US believes Castro has terminal cancer

By Andrew Buncombe in Washington

Monday 09 October 2006

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The US government believes that Fidel Castro has terminal cancer and is unlikely to be able to resume his full duties, Time magazine has reported.

An unidentified US official told the magazine: "Certainly we have heard this, that this guy has terminal cancer."

This latest story, one of numerous claims about Mr Castro's health, followed a statement last week by Cuba's Foreign Minister, Felipe Perez Roque, that the 80-year-old dictator "continues to recover".

Mr Castro, who has ruled the Caribbean island nation since 1959, announced in August that he was handing some of his duties to his brother Raul, 75, following emergency intestinal surgery, which "obliges me to spend several weeks in repose, away from my responsibilities as leader".

Since then there has been widespread speculation about President Castro's health and whether he may be suffering from cancer.

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