Former Venezuelan Vice President Says Castro Alive And Well; Venezuelan Doctor Says Alive, But Not Well

Posted by Alan | October 21, 2012 21:43 | Filed under: Top Stories

Rumors of Fidel Castro suffering a massive stroke are being denied. Former Venezuelan Vice President Elias Jaua says he had a five hour meeting with Castro Saturday, and is shown holding up a picture of Castro and others, including Jaua, in a van outside the hotel where the meeting supposedly took place.

Losé Marquina, the Venezuelan doctor in Naples, Fla., who fueled rumors of a Castro health crisis with a claim last week that unidentified sources had told him the Cuban revolutionary had suffered an “embolic stroke,” said he did not believe the reports.

“The information that I have is that it was a maid who claimed to have seen him. This is a fabrication.” Marquina told El Nuevo Herald. “If you’re going to believe the communists, who have been lying forever, that’s OK. I don’t believe them.”

The Associated Press bureau in Havana, which first reported Castro’s visit to the Nacional, quoted hotel commercial director Yamila Fuster as saying that he dropped off an unidentified Venezuelan man on Saturday afternoon and chatted with hotel staff.

“Fidel Castro was here yesterday. He brought a guest and spoke to workers and hotel leaders for 30 minutes,” Fuster said Sunday. She also said that she was not present but that the news was being released officially by the government-owned hotel.

“The hotel is confirming the comandante was here Saturday,” a hotel telephone operator who claimed that she saw Castro told El Nuevo Herald on Sunday. “It’s on the Internet. You can read the details there.”