Cuban exiles suspect Castro photos are fakes

MIAMI, Aug 14 (Reuters) Cuban exiles in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood clung to hope today that their old enemy was nearly gone, and said they suspected photos of Fidel Castro released this weekend were fakes.

The sickroom photos showing the Cuban leader sitting up, holding a telephone, and chatting with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez two weeks after surgery for intestinal bleeding were apparently released to reassure Cubans that Castro was recuperating.

But some in Miami who fled his communist government thought they had been cobbled together from older images to falsely suggest Castro was still hearty and in charge.

''I don't think that Fidel Castro picture is authentic,'' said Paul Salgueiro, a doctor who left Cuba in 1961. ''I wish it would be the other way around and he's not in the picture anymore.'' Chatting outside a popular Cuban restaurant, many people asked why the 80-year-old Castro had not spoken on the radio or television if he was recovering as well as the photos suggested.

''If he's talking on the phone, why hasn't he said anything (publicly)?'' said Jose Fabregas, who thought the photos were fakes.

Fabregas said he thought Castro was terminally ill but still alive. His companion, Juan Delgado, nodded in agreement.

''He's alive. I never doubted it,'' said Delgado, who's own father survived surgery for intestinal bleeding at age 82.

Diana Cabrera, stepping into the restaurant, didn't think it really mattered whether the photos were authentic.

''If they're true, he's very sick. If they're doctored, we'll know that he's finished. Either way, it's a change in politics,'' she said.

Carlos Cabezas, who left Cuba when he was 5, thought Havana might have faked the photos and suggested a possible motive: ''That government is always trying to be sneaky and piss off the Cubans here in Miami.'' The U.S. government was also checking the photos carefully.

''Given the fact that he had major surgery two weeks ago, he looks pretty good for a man his age,'' a U.S. official said, adding that intelligence officials were conducting further analysis. ''There is no reason to doubt the authenticity of the photos.'' White House spokesman Tony Snow disagreed, telling reporters on Monday: ''First you have the cheesy Photoshop picture. At least the second one was a little better,'' Reuters PDS VP0025