VENEZUELA / CUBA: 1July UPDATE: Hugo Admits To Cancer Surgery! 6 Months Recovery In Cuba Predicted.

LINK CHANGE/ AP/ M.HERALD
3 screen read...combined

In a 14 minute statement on national TV, President Hugo Chavez finally admitted that he had recent cancer surgery in Cuba.
Rumors about that had circulated widely...but until today...no details were given about Chavez's health challenge on 10 June.


Chavez said a malignant pelvic tumor was removed. He disclosed that he had another surgery for an unspecified cancer and said he was undergoing "complementary treatment".
There was no mention if it had spread.

 VP Elías Jaua announced that Chavez may remain in Cuba...for up to 6 months!

“It cannot be that the president is incapacitated for six months to fully exercise his duties, and nothing happens,” said Teodoro Petkoff, editor of the opposition newspaper Tal Cual. “The vice president of the republic needs to take care of this.”

It became obvious that something serious was going on when Chavez's important 5 July summit of Latin American and Caribbean leaders on Venezuela's Margarita Island was cancelled.
The summit was to be the  triumphant return of a recovering and healthy Hugo Chavez to Venezuela.

It also was to be a celebration of the 200th anniversary of Venezuela's independence from Spain...and the launch of Chavez's baby... CELAC/the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States...as an alternative to the OAS.

To combat the health and cancer rumors...both governments tried a PR offensive like 2006...when Fidel Castro got sick and was rumored to have died.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez re-appeared 2 weeks after surgery in La Habana...but only in a 20 minute videotaped chat with Fidel... that included short clips and fotos of the two talking outdoor.

"I saw him looking very thin. His face looked very thin," said opposition politico Gustavo Azócar. "I find it strange that state television shows the president talking with Fidel Castro, but it does not broadcast him talking to the country," he added.

NEW!!!TO SEE FULL 14:53 Video of Chavez announcement...in ESP: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpUe9fs5Ss8&feature=player_embedded#at=21

TO SEE: PR Effort With Fidel/Hugo Meeting :51 Reuters Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPEfRR5YgWA&feature=player_embedded

CUBA / VENEZUELA : 16 June UPDATE: Chavez's Slow Recovery In La Habana Stirs Critics And Health Fears; Blackouts Continue...With Blame Game; Rationing To Begin.

LINK CHANGE/ BLOOMBERG

President Hugo Chavez, 56, is still recuperating in La Habana...after an operation to remove a pelvic abscess.

He is running Venezuela's government from his hospital bed...after orders to rest for several more days. Chavez couldn't predict his return to Caracas...except that “it won’t be long.”

Now the long stay-over there... is giving his critics an opportunity to attack him...for flouting the constitution and preferring Cuban doctors to Venezuelans. "Venezuela has been humiliated because we are governed from Cuba, be it by Chavez or by (Fidel) Castro," an opposition legislator shouted in Venezuela's parliament.

NEW!!! LINK!!!
BLOOMBERG: Also... "since traveling to the communist island 9 June and undergoing unannounced surgery to remove a pelvic abscess, the normally hands-on leader has stayed out of the spotlight, making a single telephone call into state-run television. That’s raised questions about the true state of his health after other medical problems this year..."
AND:  “We are all worried because we don’t know who’s running the country,” said a  41-year-old messenger in  Caracas. “Chavez is very strong, he hasn’t had any serious illness since he took over, but they should clarify things and speak to the people.”

ALSO: On the continuing blackouts. By John Otis.

President Hugo Chavez controls the power sector...but downplays its role in the crisis.

"Officials first blamed a spike in demand amid rapid economic growth. Then came a 2010 drought that reduced water levels at the country’s hydroelectric dams. But lately the economy has slowed down and torrential rains have filled the dams. So now the government is pointing fingers at the opposition. In speeches, Chavez often claims that electrical plants are being sabotaged by his political foes to make his government look bad ahead of next year’s presidential election."
 http://www.theworld.org/2011/06/venezuela-energy-blackouts/

ALSO NEW!!! 
Electricity rationing will begin in several yet to be announced regions.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gm83-DlcTtaNXTLK9_huENP4ECyg?docId=cd896361d9c04f6fb734088e4f8f920c

CUBA: "In A Foul Mood," A Stern Raul Castro Opens 1st Congress Since 1997.

M.HERALD/ J.TAMAYO

   Reporting from Miami, Tamayo describes President Raul Castro as appearing "stern, often angry-sounding" in a harsh 2.5 hour attack on the isla's failings...during his opening speech for Cuba's first Communist Party Congress since 1997.
    Castro told more than 1,000 delegates that: “I hang my head in shame when I have to accept in public” that previous approved reforms were never enacted.
     Raul, 79, also proposed a maximum of two five-year terms for leadership posts - including his own.
    Fidel Castro did not appear at the Congress...but in a newspaper  column wrote that his brother's words...made him proud.
    Fidel also apologized for not attending the Bay of Pigs parade in person, writing that he couldn't last three hours in the relentless sun and heat.

TO VIEW: 2:32 CNN Video report in English...with :30 ad.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/americas/04/17/cuba.castro/

CUBA: Wikileaks Reveals Fidel's Near Death in 2006; Raul's Possible Depression After Wife's Death.

BBC/ 

   Fidel Castro's health is considered a state secret in Cuba.
    No Longer. Wikileaks sent cables to Spain's El Pais newspaper that reveal what many Habinistas speculated at the time, that Castro almost died after suffering a perforated intestine during an internal flight.
   His illness led Fidel to turn power over to his brother Raul.
      Details revealed that Fidel had a perforation of the large intestine and needed surgery.
      But that he "capriciously" refused to have a colostomy so his condition deteriorated over time and he required further surgery. There were complications until a specialist was brought in from Spain.

AND:  In a 2007 cable after the death of Raul Castro's wife, Vilma Espin, it was speculated that the loss might throw Raul into a depression —  but have little effect on Fidel.

FOR  MORE DETAILS ABOUT CUBAN CABLES:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jp2gThsncH_jcreqF8euJayzXEqw?docId=eecee32fcfc14554b8797a68599a8323

CUBA: La Habana Criticises New Virtual Revenge For Fidel's "Gusanos"- Killing Castro.

AP/ M.HERALD/
   The Cuban government is condemning a new video game that lets players acting as soldiers seek out and kill a young Fidel Castro.
    The game from Activision Blizzard, "Call of Duty: Black Ops," is now on sale in the U.S.
     The highly anticipated game takes players on secret missions to Cold War enemies in the Soviet Union, Cuba, Vietnam and Laos.
     On the Cuban mission, the goal is to assassinate young revolutionary Fidel Castro, who has overthrown dictator Fulgencio Batista.
     An article on the government-run website says: "What the United States couldn't accomplish in more than 50 years, they are now trying to do virtually." Some Cuban officials maintain that there have been more than 600 failed attempts by the CIA on Castro's life.
     Sales should be especially strong in South Florida and New Jersey, two Cuban-American strongholds.

CUBA: The French Castigate Fidel For Comment On Roma Expulsions.

BBC/    Fidel Castro continues hogging the news cycle and the limelight with comments and appearances, while publicizing his latest tome.
     This time, the French, sensitive from growing criticism over their recent expulsion of some 8,000 Roma to Eastern Europe, are reacting to a Castro comment. They are insulted that Castro called their expulsions, "a racial holocaust," and said he was ignorant of history.
A spokesman said: "Such words are unacceptable," adding "That Fidel Castro shows an interest in human rights is truly revolutionary."

CUBA: Fidel Walks Back His Latest Comment On Isla's Broken Economic Model.

M.HERALD/      When it hits the fan, blame the translator. So it goes, apparently, with Fidel Castro. It was all Julia Sweig's fault. The former president and strongman said today that he was "misinterpreted" when a US reporter wrote he said that the "Cuban model doesn't even work for us any more." Castro said he made the statement "without anger or worry. Now I'm amused to see how (the Atlantic reporter) interpreted it literally" with the aid of translator Julia Sweig. His answer Castro said, "meant exactly the opposite" of what the reporter wrote. Huh?

CUBA: Fidel Is Sorry, Sort Of, For Decades Of Gay Oppression.

M.PRESS/    Tens of thousands of gay men were sent to labor camp and jails in the 1960s through the '90s without charges or trials. In the second part of an interview with a Mexican newspaper, Fidel Castro now concedes he was wrong.“They were moments of great injustice, great injustice!” Castro told journalist Carmen Lira Saade from La Jornada. “If someone is responsible, it's me”. But later Castro backs off this admission, by saying that... he was just too busy to protect human rights! "We had so many and such terrible problems, problems of life or death, that we didn't pay it enough attention. We were fighting CIA attempts to oust the revolution and they even infiltrated my people, they were terrible times, fully concentrated on political and survival issues”.

CUBA: Fidel Castro Discloses Some Illness Details.

AP/ M.HERALD/ PAUL HAVEN/     Fidel Castro admits that "I was at death's door, but I came back" in an exclusive 5-hour interview with the left-leaning Mexican daily La Jornada. Castro revealed that his weight fell to145 pounds (66 kilograms) - slight for a 6-foot-3 man (190 centimeters) but that he is now back up to 190 pounds (86 kilograms). "Laid out in that bed, I could only see what was around me, machines I did not understand," Castro said. "I didn't know how long this torment would continue. The only thing I could hope for was that the world would stop. But I recovered."

CUBA: Fidel Castro Claims Osama Bin Laden... Is A CIA Agent.

AP/MIAMI HERALD/      Fidel Castro continued his broadside against American foreign policy, this time claiming that Osama Bin Laden...is a CIA agent. "Any time Bush would stir up fear and make a big speech, bin Laden would appear threatening people with a story about what he was going to do," said Castro. "Bush never lacked for Bin Laden's support. He was a subordinate."
It was also reported that Fidel and brother Raul held a 5-hour meeting with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on a brief, unscheduled visit to the isla. Chavez described the meeting as “emotional and brotherly.”

MEXICO/CUBA: Calderon Hits Back At Fidel Castro For Obrador Endorsement.

LAHT/      Mexico's government dismissed two recent articles by Fidel Castro that praised former leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who was thwarted in a 2004 political scandal that derailed his presidential bid. The Calderon ministry asserted that Castro “seeks to discredit Mexican institutions and makes groundless affirmations about the country.” Castro wrote that Lopez Obrador “will be Mexico’s leading moral and political authority when the system collapses, and with it, the Empire (the United States).”

CUBA: What Is Fidel Up To...???

M.HERALD/ ANDRES OPPENHEIMER/ OPINION/
ANALYSIS/
   As expected, the Habanistas have been swirling and studying their coffee grounds to explain Fidel Castro's recent spate of public appearances. Columnist Andres Oppenheimer gives the 5 most common explanations.

OPPENHEIMER:   "Here's the question being asked by almost anybody who is following the latest news from Cuba -- what on earth is Fidel Castro up to? Since he made his first public appearance in four years last month, Cuba's officially retired dictator -- who turned 84 Friday -- hasn't stopped showing up in public, and grabbing the headlines. Proclaiming himself ``totally'' recovered from the intestinal ailment that forced him to turn over the presidency to his brother Gen. Raúl Castro in 2006, Fidel Castro has made more than a dozen public appearances since he was photographed visiting the National Center of Scientific Investigations on July 7."

CUBA: Fidel Castro Addresses Parliament For 1st Time In 4 Years.

BBC/      Strongman Fidel Castro delivered a polished but short 10-minute speech urging the U.S. not to war with Iran before Cuba's parliament for the first time since 2006. Castro, celebrating either his 84th or 85th birthday next week, was dressed in his familiar olive-green fatigues but without his commandante insignias.

CUBA: Observations On Fidel Castro's Return To Public Life.

WASHPOST/ YOANI SANCHEZ/ OPINION/  Noted dissident blogger writes about how Fidel watchers in Cuba now see him: as an unpredictable, dottering old man, stripped of charisma.

SANCHEZ:  "Fidel Castro's return to public life after a four-year absence provokes conflicting emotions here. His reappearance surprised a people awaiting, with growing despair, the reforms announced by his brother Raúl. While some weave fantasies around his return, others are anxious about what will happen next.
The return of a famous figure is a familiar theme in life as in fiction -- think Don Quixote, Casanova or Juan Domingo Perón. But another familiar theme is disappointment -- of those who find that the person who returns is no longer the person who left, or at least not as we remember him. There is often a sense of despair surrounding those who insist on coming back. Fidel Castro is no exception to this flaw inherent in remakes. "

CUBA: Stephen Kinzer On Fidel Castro's Autobiography; Secrets Are Unlikely.

GUARDIAN/ STEPHEN KINZER: OPINION/ On the first volume of Fidel Castro's memoirs, "The Strategic Victory."
    "Although Castro is built on a larger-than-life scale, he has never been known as reflective or self-aware. His ideology has evidently not changed in half a century. For much of that time he was widely said to hold more direct personal control over his people than any leader in the world. How did that feel? Was it necessary? Don't buy Castro's memoir expecting insightful reflection on questions like these.
Few people in the world know as many explosive geopolitical secrets as Castro. Within him he is carrying a blockbuster best-seller. He is unlikely ever to write it. Like the disciplined militant he is, he will take his trove of secrets to the grave."

CUBA: He Still Lives! Fidel Fotos Released.

MHERALD/      New fotos of a smiling but stooped Fidel Castro, 83 or 84, have been released. The four pix were said to have been taken Wednesday during his visit to the National Center for Scientific Investigation in Havana. They appeared on the blogs of two official Cuban journalists and apparently were taken with a worker's mobile phone.
It was the first time that photos have been released of Castro in public since his illness in July 2006.
This foto is from Norelys Morales' blog. She is a  Cuban TV journalist. 

CUBA: Lula Meets With Fit-looking Fidel Castro.

GUARDIAN.UK /   A fit-looking Fidel Castro, at least 83-years old, met with Brasil's President Lula da Silva in a closed-door meeting in La Habana. It was Lula's third visit to Cuba in two years--and the last before Lula's term ends. Brasil's state-run bank has lent $300m to a corporation to build new roads, rail lines, wharves and warehouses at Mariel while Brasil's oil giant Petrobras researches drilling offshore.

CUBA: Update On Fidel Castro by Brian Latell.

MIAMI HERALD/

Fidel Castro is beginning his 52nd year in power by renewing his influence and causing tension by undermining his brother Raul's legitimacy. Especially telling was April 21 when Fidel castigated and humiliated his brother at a meeting in Venezuela when -- seemingly in an inebriated state -- Raúl expressed willingness to discuss almost everything with the Obama administration.

Castro Wanted Russians To Nuke U.S.

NYTIMES/
Fidel Castro wanted the Soviet Union to launch a nuclear attack on the United States. But "Moscow dissuaded him by patiently explaining how the radioactive cloud resulting from such a strike would also devastate Cuba."

Fidel Castro's New Threads May Signal A New Attitude.

MIAMI HERALD/
Lately, Fidel Castro has been pictured in clothes decribed as "tropical business casual." Cuba analysts say perhaps Castro is showing that he's over his health crisis and ready to influence Cuba affairs.
``He is the most aggressive back-seat driver in the world . . . and could grab the wheel at any time'', said Dan Erikson, a Cuba expert.