Castro says he is stable and in good spirits

HAVANA - Cuban leader Fidel Castro told his people today he was in good spirits and stable after undergoing surgery and temporarily relinquishing power to his brother.

"I can say it is a stable condition, but a real evolution of the state of my health needs time," Castro, 79, said in a statement read out on state television. He did not appear on the screen.

"I am in perfectly good spirits," he said. "The most I can say is that the situation will remain stable during many days before a verdict can be given."

The ailing communist leader handed over the presidency temporarily to his younger brother Raul yesterday after having an operation to stop gastrointestinal bleeding.

Castro, who had claimed he delegated power because Cuba was under threat from the United States, said the Cuban armed forces were prepared to defend the nation.

Television journalist Randy Alonso said he spoke to Castro minutes before going on air and the Cuban leader asked him to broadcast his words to the nation.

Earlier today the communist government told nervous Cubans that Castro's life was not in danger, after the ailing US foe who has dominated the nation for nearly 50 years said he had stepped down temporarily.

"The Cuban leader will always fight until the last moment. But that last moment is very far away," National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon said in the first word from Cuba on Castro's condition since yesterday's announcement he was handing over power provisionally to his brother.

The news that the 79-year-old Castro was undergoing surgery set off street parties in Miami by Cuban exiles who yearn for the demise of the West's only communist government.

The news also prompted speculation that Castro, who took power in 1959, would not return to office. In Washington, the Bush administration, which has tightened the decades-long US embargo with Cuba, dismissed any possibility of a softer stance with new leader Raul Castro.

In Cuba, where Castro's guerrillas once swept down from the Sierra Maestra hills to overthrow a US-backed dictator, word of his illness brought apprehension over the future of the Caribbean island nation of 11 million.

Opinion can be hard to measure in a tightly controlled society. But many Cubans, whether admiring or not of Castro, seemed stunned by the temporary exit from the scene of a figure who has run their lives for decades.

Castro, who last appeared in public giving a July 26 speech, said in a "proclamation" that his ill health was caused by overexerting himself during travels last month.

Castro, whose health has been an issue since he fainted during a speech in 2001, gave the reins of the ruling Communist Party, the post of commander in chief of the armed forces and president of the executive council of state to Raul Castro, 75, his constitutional successor.

Calm in Havana

Cubans went about their lives calmly today with no signs in Havana of an increased police presence. But many Cubans expressed worries about the future.

"Fidel must be in very bad shape to have handed over all powers. I pray that God helps him recover," said Carmen Vallejo, a dissident in Havana whose father was Castro's friend and doctor in the early days of the revolution.

Venezuela, whose leftist President Hugo Chavez has become a close ally of Castro, said in a statement from its foreign relations ministry that Castro's recovery was "advancing positively," citing information from the Cuban government.

But medical experts said surgery for major bleeding in a elderly man is risky and could require several months of rest.

- REUTERS