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| Serious Leg Infection Sidelines Castro |
| 2002-12-25 |
| Wednesday, December 25, 2002 HAVANA — Out of the public eye for more than a week, President Fidel Castro told Cubans in a letter published Wednesday that he is recovering from a serious infection caused by a bug bite to his left leg. "I am fine, dear compatriots, and I feel more optimistic than ever about the future of the Revolution," the 76-year-old leader wrote in the letter, entitled "Chronicle of Repose" and published on the front page of the Communist Party daily Granma. The letter was the first public word about Castro's current illness since Saturday, when he excused himself from a session of the National Assembly, Cuba's parliament, saying doctors had ordered him to rest following an unspecified injury in his leg. The health of Castro, who is regularly seen in public several times a week, is a constant source of speculation by Cuba watchers. Persistent rumors of ailments -- including prostate cancer, heart troubles, Parkinson's disease and stroke -- have circulated for years. Castro's designated successor is his 71-year-old brother, Raul Castro, Cuba's defense minister. Castro, who has ruled Cuba for nearly 44 years, said in the letter that the infection began after he began scratching a bug bite on the lower part of his left leg the night of Dec. 16. Funny, wasnt it Michael jackson that was just sidelined by a "bug bite", I wonder what the gloved one looks like dressed in fatigues and a fake beard. Castro said he followed doctors' instructions to keep the leg elevated and apply cold compresses when resting and continued with his regular work schedule. But by the morning of Dec. 19 the bite was bothering him more. Doctors informed him that he had a staphylococcus infection and ordered more cold compresses, antibiotics and -- to his dismay -- bed rest. So much for the vaunted socialist medical system, stymied by a simple thing like a infection. "I didn't have any other alternative but to resign myself," wrote Castro. He begrudgingly then canceled a Friday night appearance at the anniversary celebration of the Federation of University Students and a Saturday morning session of the National Assembly. "It was my duty to protect my beloved left leg," he wrote. "With it, I have practiced many sports, including soccer, have run in races, jumped, swam, climbed mountains. ..." "It had never betrayed me," the Cuban leader wrote of his left leg. "I couldn't betray it now." Doctors who initially prescribed three of four days of bedrest later extended that to a week but now "it will be a very short time before my left leg is totally new again," Castro wrote. He did not say, however, exactly when he would be back at work. Even though Castro has slowed somewhat in recent years, his stamina is legendary. He is said to keep an unusually busy schedule even for a head of state, often staying up all night to meet with visitors, or to study government reports. Because of that reported indefatigability, the nation was stunned in late June 2001 when Castro suffered a brief fainting spell during a live televised speech before a crowd of tens of thousands of people. People gasped and wept openly at the political rally before Castro returned a few minutes later to show them he was "entero" -- all in one piece. Hopefully Santa brought "El Jefe" a big pair of pliers this year to pull that bug out of his ass |
| Posted by:Frank Martin |