MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

TIME magazine says Castro has terminal cancer

Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro is believed to have terminal cancer and is unlikely to return to power, Time magazine reported Saturday, citing US government officials.

Despite remarks by Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque on Wednesday that Castro "continues to recover (and) we will have him back leading the Revolution," Time reported on its website that many US officials are now convinced that Castro has terminal cancer and will never retake the reins of the Cuban regime.

"Certainly we have heard this, that this guy has terminal cancer," a US official told the magazine on condition of anonymity.

Castro, 80, handed over the presidency for the first time in almost five decades to his brother Raul Castro, 75, who has long been Cuba's defense chief, after undergoing intestinal surgery in July.

However Time officials said the intelligence reports on the ailing Cuban president are not definitive "since it's almost impossible to get hold of definitive evidence" about his condition.

US officials have speculated that Castro and his possible successor are not really informed about his "terminal condition".

"We believe they wanted to test public opinion reaction to his absence with the provisional handing of the presidency to his brother", said US sources.

The nature of Castro's surgery and his specific ailment has been treated as a state secret. Last month, Castro said in a statement that he has lost more than 41 pounds since he had intestinal surgery but added that the most critical moment was behind him.

The statement was accompanied by ten photographs of Castro during his convalescence, in all of them sitting up and wearing either short-sleeved navy blue or light-blue pajamas.

Time magazine recalls that Washington has been preparing for Castro's exit from power for half a century but on this occasion the President George Bush has named a special group to coordinate a possible democratic transition in Cuba.

"All of us must understand that it is not convenient to systematically offer information, nor give out images of my health situation," Castro added. "All of us must also understand realistically that the complete recovery time, whether we like it or not, will be prolonged".

"At this moment I am not in a hurry, and no one should be in a hurry. The country is marching and moving ahead", he said in one his latest television appearances next to Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez a frequent visitor of Fidel Castro.