Fidel Castro Temporarily Hands Power Over To Brother
Posted July 31, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Fidel Castro temporarily handed over presidential powers to his brother Raul on Monday night, citing increasingly bad health.
The long-standing Cuban leader claims to be suffering from gastrointestinal bleeding, apparently stemming from the heavy workload of recent public appearances in Argentina and Cuba.
His secretary, Carlos Valenciaga, read a letter from Castro on live television Monday in which he said he had underwent surgery.
“The operation obligates me to undertake several weeks of rest,” he read, adding that extreme stress “had provoked in me a sharp intestinal crisis with sustained bleeding that obligated me to undergo a complicated surgical procedure.”
Castro younger brother and successor Raul, the defence minister, will temporarily take over with Castro saying the move was of “a provisional character.”
There was no immediate appearance or statement by Raul Castro.
Fidel Castro has been in power since the triumph of the Cuban revolution on Jan. 1, 1959, making him the world’s longest-ruling head of government. Only Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, crowned in 1952, has been head of state longer.
