KEY POINTS:
HAVANA - The latest rumour whispered on the crumbling streets of Havana is that ailing leader Fidel Castro cannot appear in public because he lost his hair -- and his famous beard -- to chemotherapy for cancer.
Cubans searching for reasons for the almost six-month public absence of
the 80-year-old revolutionary can only speculate about what's wrong with him, for lack of official word. They do not know what he has or even where he is being treated.
Cuba's communist leadership has kept water-tight secrecy around Castro's health crisis and told Cubans nothing other than reiterations that the "comandante" is recovering slowly and will be back.
There have been no leaks from Castro's inner circle and his doctors have reportedly been sequestered since his emergency surgery in late July.
A Spanish newspaper report on Tuesday that Castro is in "very serious" condition due to infection following three failed surgeries on his large intestine has gone unreported in Cuba's state-controlled media.
El Pais, citing sources at the same Madrid hospital where a surgeon who examined Castro in December works, said he suffered from diverticulitis, or inflamed bulge in the intestine, and not terminal cancer, as US officials have speculated.
Castro's close ally Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, speaking in Ecuador, denied the report the Cuban leader's condition was serious, but said his recovery from surgery was slow and had risks.
Cuban officials decline to comment on news reports from abroad, the only source of information about Castro for the few Cubans who have access to internet or get to watch Miami television stations on illegal satellite dishes.
Cubans, whether they support Castro or not, are worried about their country's future in the vacuum he will leave. Some are angry they are not being told the full story.
"It is not right that we have to learn about his health through a foreign newspaper, but it has always been that way," said Dalia, a student hitching a ride to Havana's university. "The press here says nothing."
"Cubans think Fidel is immortal. The thought of him dying frightens us," said Rafael, a self-employed odd-job man who, like most Cubans interviewed, declined to give his full name. "There is no information. That's why there is so much gossip."
US threat
Since the emergency surgery that forced him to relinquish power to his brother Raul on July 31, Castro has issued only five messages to the nation, the last a New Year greeting in which he said his recovery was "far from being a lost battle."
The last time Cubans saw him was in an video clip released on Oct 28 showing a frail Castro walking with difficulty.
Castro has justified the dearth of news about his health saying "bad news" would only help his longtime ideological enemy, the US government, which has stepped up pressure for political change in Cuba.
"Given the specific situation facing Cuba and the plans designed by the Empire, the information about my health condition becomes a state secret that cannot be continuously disseminated," he said in a message to Cubans on Aug 1.
Castro, who claims there have been 600 plots by the CIA and exiled foes to assassinate him, has always been secretive about his movements, and his private life is a taboo subject in the Cuban media.
Foreign diplomats in Havana say the secrecy surrounding his health crisis serves to gain time for the consolidation of his brother's leadership and the survival of Cuba's one-party state when he is gone.
"It also keeps adversaries in doubt," said a European diplomat. "They want to disclose information on their own terms, making it fit their plans."
Asked about earlier assertions that Castro was dying of cancer, one US official declined to comment on what is known about his condition within the Bush administration. But he said evidence of the physical wasting was clear.
"His condition plainly is serious indeed. That hasn't changed," the official who spoke on condition of anonymity said.
- REUTERS
