Castro out of intensive care, says estranged sister

MIAMI, Aug 2 (Reuters) Cuban President Fidel Castro's long-estranged sister today said she had heard he was no longer in intensive care after his surgery, a Miami television station reported.

Juanita Castro Ruz, who left Cuba in 1964 and has not spoken to her brother for years, told WTVJ television that it had been difficult watching Cuban exiles in Florida celebrate news that Fidel Castro had undergone surgery for stomach bleeding and handed over power temporarily to his brother.

''It's a very sad situation for me because we are separated.

I am separated from Fidel because of political reasons,'' she said, according to the television station's Web site.

''The last information that I received is that he's out of intensive therapy and he's now waiting to see what happens. But already he's left from intensive therapy,'' she added.

WTVJ reported that she said her information came from someone she spoke to in Cuba and was not an official statement from the government.

Juanita Castro, who owns a pharmacy in Miami's plush Coral Gables neighborhood, is not viewed in Cuba as someone with access to inside information, given the decades of political disagreement with her brother.

Fidel Castro, who has ruled since his 1959 revolution ousted a military dictator, ceded power to his brother Raul Castro on Monday after surgery to stop intestinal bleeding.

Neither he nor Raul Castro have been shown publicly since.

REUTERS VJ RK0102