Castro warns Cubans of 'long recovery'

On his 80th birthday, Fidel Castro cautioned Cubans he faced a long recovery from surgery and advised them to prepare for “adverse news”, but urged them to stay optimistic, while a newspaper published the first photographs of the Cuban leader since his illness.

On his 80th birthday, Fidel Castro cautioned Cubans he faced a long recovery from surgery and advised them to prepare for “adverse news”.

He also urged them to stay optimistic however, while a newspaper published the first photographs of the Cuban leader since his illness.

Castro, whose illness forced him to step aside as president two weeks ago, said his health had improved, but warned he still faced risks.

“I feel very happy,” said a statement attributed to Castro in the Juventud Rebelde newspaper. “For all those who care about my health, I promise to fight for it.”

The online edition of the Communist Youth newspaper also published four photographs of Castro wearing what looked like a white and red tracksuit. In two of them he is talking on the telephone and in another he is showing a copy of the Saturday edition of Granma, the Communist Party newspaper, as if to prove the photo was taken yesterday.

In the statement, Castro said his stability has “considerably improved” but added: “To affirm that the recovery period will take a short time and that there is no risk would be absolutely incorrect.”

“I ask you all to be optimistic, and at the same time to be ready to face any adverse news,” it added. “To the people of Cuba, infinite gratitude for your loving support. The country is marching on and will continue marching on perfectly well.”

Yesterday, Granma said Castro was walking and talking again, and even working a bit. It was the most optimistic report yet since intestinal surgery forced him to step aside as president.

Meanwhile, his close friend and political ally, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, said yesterday that he would visit the Cuban leader.

“Tomorrow I will be with Fidel celebrating his 80th birthday,” Chavez said at a news conference in Caracas after declaring his candidacy for re-election in December.

“I’ll take him a nice gift, a good cake, and we’ll be celebrating the 80 years of this great figure of America and our history,” Chavez said.

Chavez also visited Castro in October 2004, two weeks after a fall that shattered the Cuban leader’s kneecap and broke his right arm. A picture of the pair on the front page of Granma newspaper was the first image published of Castro after the accident.

Saturday’s article in the Granma newspaper – though brief – was the most detailed statement Cuba’s government has issued since Castro announced on July 31 that he was temporarily ceding his powers to his younger brother Raul, number two in the government.

Fidel Castro said his condition during his recovery would be treated as a “state secret”, so as not to give any advantage to his enemies in the US.

South Florida’s Cuban exile community used the newspaper report to criticise the island’s government.

“Sadly, Granma’s optimism of Fidel Castro’s health is in sharp contrast to political prisoners who are rotting in Cuban prisons for simply disagreeing (with him),” said Alfredo Mesa, spokesman for the Cuban American National Foundation. “Dead or alive, change in Cuba must come now. The era of Fidel Castro must end.”

Despite the optimistic assessment of Castro’s progress, few believed that he would be making a public appearance on his 80th birthday today.

The Cuban president blamed an unspecified intestinal problem brought on by a heavy work schedule. He recently travelled to Argentina for a summit of the trade group Mercosur and gave two long speeches in eastern Cuba on July 26, the last time he was seen in public.