Absence, silence stir speculation on Castro health

By Jeff Franks

HAVANA (Reuters) - Fidel Castro's absence from the 50th anniversary of the Cuban revolution and a prolonged halt to his output of newspaper columns have raised concerns that the health of the 82-year-old former leader may be declining.

The Cuban government has said nothing about his condition, but Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a close Castro ally, appeared to signal a problem when he spoke about him in elegiac terms on Sunday on his weekly radio and television show.

The Fidel Castro who "walked the streets and towns ... in his uniform and hugging the people, will not return. That will remain in memory," Chavez said.

Castro has been ailing since he underwent surgery for an undisclosed intestinal ailment 2 1/2 years ago that forced him to cede power to his younger brother, Raul Castro, and go into semi-seclusion.

Since then, he has been seen only in occasional videos and photos, but has maintained a public profile by writing columns for state-run media.

He was producing an average of nine columns a month in 2008, but he has not published a new one since Dec. 15.

Many observers thought he might appear live or on television for the anniversary of his Jan. 1, 1959, victory over dictator Fulgencio Batista or the commemoration a week later of his triumphant arrival in Havana.

But he appeared at neither, in what was less a surprise than an affirmation that he had become a frail old man, said a Cuban office worker who gave her name only as Marlena.