| Fidel Castro's Hospitalization:
On July 26, 2006, the Cuban leader was taken to hospital in a critical condition with bleeding in the intestines. After a few days Fidel Castro’s secretary, Carlos Valensiago, read Fidel Castro's letter on Cuban TV in which Fidel Castro said that he underwent an operation and will remain in bed for several weeks. In the letter it was mentioned that the reason for the bleeding in the intestines was probably due to stress after his trip to Argentina and across Cuba.
Fidel Castro temporarily transferred his duties as Head of the State, Commander-in-Chief of armed forces of Cuba and also President of the Communist party of Cuba to his younger brother Raul. According to article 94 of the Constitution of Cuba, “In case of illness or death of the Chairman of the Council of States, his duties will be carried out by the first Vice-President of State Council”. Raul Castro (5 years younger than Fidel) holds the post of first deputy chairman of the Council of States, second secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba and Minister of Defense. Fidel had named his brother as his successor in 2001 after he fainted in a meeting in Havana: “He is best prepared and has the greatest experience”. Simultaneously, Fidel Castro named other possible future leaders of Cuba, each one should manage one of the three governmental programs, which were coordinated earlier by Fidel Castro himself. Member of the Political bureau of Central Committee of Communist Party of Cuba, Minister of Health José Ramon Balager Cabrera becomes the coordinator of the public health program. Educational programs will be supervised by members of the Political bureau of José Ramon Machado Ventura and Esteban Lazo Hernandez. The member of Politburo, secretary of the Council of ministers, Carlos Lage becomes coordinator of energy development of Cuba. It is noticed, that Lage was the mediator in Fidel Castro's negotiations with the president of Venezuela Hugo Chavez. In his letter, mentioned persons would supervise: Financial matters of the state - Carlos Lage; Chief of Central Bank of Cuba – Francisco Soberon Valdes and Minister of Foreign Affairs - Felipe Perez Roque. Fidel Castro's address to the nation is perceived by many as his will in which the author declares: “I do not have the slightest doubt that our people and our revolution will protect our ideas till the last drop of blood. Imperialism shall never shatter Cuba!”
On August 2, 2006 - in a new letter to the people of Cuba, Fidel Castro informed them that his health is as state secret. On October 28, 2006, after several months of treatment, Cuban TV showed footage in where Fidel Castro had addressed the people and has denied rumors surrounding his death. But, Castro remained in a critical state in hospital. In the June of the next year, the President of the National Assembly of Cuba, Ricardo Alarcon, informed the public once again about Castro's health: “I think that in general, he has almost completely recovered …”.
January, 2008 - Fidel Castro is once again elected as Deputy of National Assembly of Republic Cuba.
On February 19, 2008, Fidel Castro stated that we would not hold the posts of President of Council of State and Commander-in-Chief again on formation of Government.
Doctor Marcelo Fernandez, who fled the island, said that in 1989 in Egypt, Professor Ahmed Shafique had operated on Fidel Castro to liquidate the effects of a brain hemorrhage and diagnosed rectum cancer.
In November 2005 - a confidential report by the CIA stated that Fidel Castro has been suffering from Parkinson disease since 1998. Castro commented on it saying: “Enemies of Cuba could not bury me once but always wished so. However, I never felt better than now. Once again the CIA has made the diagnosis for me and looked like a settlement in a deep pool”, - these words were pronounced by Fidel Castro during his five-hour speech, addressing students and professors at the University of Havana - during these five hours, Fidel Castro spoke standing, did not sit even once and spoke continuously during the speech without a break.
News about Fidel Castro's death appeared in the media several times in the last few years. Also, news appeared that the Cuban leader was “buried” in 1986, 1994 and 2007. The latest news on Castro's death also came on November 19, 2009. However, on July 10, 2010, Fidel Castro appeared in public and visited the scientific research centre in Havana thereby denying the rumors surrounding his death.
Interesting facts:
In 1962, Fidel Castro was excommunicated by Pope John XXIII on the basis of Pope Pius XII’s Decree against communism for organizing a communistic revolution in Cuba.
Juanita, sister of Fidel Castro, fled Cuba in 1964 and is based in Florida, USA; even before, in early sixties, she was associated with the Central Intelligence Agency of the USA.
During the revolutionary years, Fidel Castro quite often added two more zeros to the award sum declared for his head.
Fidel Castro entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the most ardent orator - his most well-known speech continued for 27 hours!
Fidel Castro acted in at least two American films, including the famous movie during those times – “School for Mermaids”.
Several Russians living in Cuba call Fidel Castro “Hottabych”.
The company NBO, which produced a movie “Commandante”, made by Oliver Stone, promoted the movie based on Cuba and its leader. The film was banned in the USA and Oliver Stone once again visited Cuba to investigate the human rights on the Island of Freedom. Ironically, in 2006, the American authorities have fined the film crew from “In search of Fidel” for “Violation of the economic embargo” against Cuba, that lead to sneers from the inhabitants of the Island of Freedom for “Paying the price for freedom of speech”.
By the end of April 2010, Fidel started a microblog on Twitter ( http://twitter.com/reflexionfidel ) with the intention of surpassing Barrack Obama, Sebastian Pinera and Benjamin Netanyahu in respect to number of readers, however during the first weeks, their number grew to tens of thousands only while at the same time, Hugo Chavez received 10 times more "votes”.
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Former Cuban president Fidel Castro, the Cuban icon for 50 years, who disappeared from public view 4 years ago after handling power to his brother Raul Castro, is again showing up in public.
83 year old Castro started his miraculous public appearance, after a 4 year absence, with a long interview on Cuban television where he was eloquently talkative and gave his opinion about the prospects of the world affairs and politics. "We should all prepare for nuclear war unless the West stops the tensions with Iran and North Korea", said Castro.
