Cuban President Fidel Castro is very ill and close to death, Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte said yesterday. "Everything we see indicates it will not be much longer . . . months, not years," Negroponte told a meeting of Washington Post editors and reporters.Merry Christmas!
Castro relinquished power for the first time in 47 years after surgery July 31 for an undisclosed intestinal disorder. He was last seen in an Oct. 28 video, shown on Cuban national television, in which he appeared gaunt and weak and warned that his convalescence would be lengthy. The Cuban leader did not show up as anticipated at a Dec. 2 national celebration in Havana scheduled to commemorate his 80th birthday and the 50th anniversary of the Cuban revolution.