Castro recovering, could govern again, doctor says

MADRID, Dec 26 (Reuters) A Spanish surgeon who has just examined Cuban leader Fidel Castro said today he is making a good recovery from intestinal surgery, does not have cancer, and could return to governing his country.

Castro's disappearance from the public eye after emergency surgery for intestinal bleeding in July sparked frenzied speculation about his state of health but surgeon Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido said the communist leader was in good condition.

''His physical activity is excellent, his intellectual activity intact, I'd say fantastic, he's recovering from his previous operation,'' Sabrido, head of surgery at Madrid's Gregorio Maranon public hospital, told a news conference after returning from Cuba.

''He asks every day to return to work, but doctors advise him not to, to take it easy,'' said Sabrido.

Garcia Sabrido, who flew to Cuba last week to examine the 80-year-old leader, said he did not need further surgery but required physical therapy, a strict diet and rest.

DIGESTIVE SYSTEM ''He does not have cancer, he has a problem with his digestive system,'' Garcia Sabrido told Reuters after the news conference. ''President Castro has no malign inflammation, it's a benign process in which he has had a series of complications.'' The prognosis confirmed the official Cuban line that Castro does not have cancer and is recovering from emergency surgery.

After Castro's disappearance from the public eye, US intelligence chief John Negroponte told the Washington Post on December 15 that Castro was likely to die within months.

Garcia Sabrido said Castro could govern Cuba again.

''Yes, if his recovery is complete, yes,'' said Garcia Sabrido, a digestive system specialist who knows the Castro family and has been a regular visitor to Cuba over recent years for medical conferences and to provide treatment.

Garcia Sabrido said it was the first time he had treated Castro, and he did not plan to return to Cuba in the near future as the leader had an excellent medical team.

Defence Minister Raul Castro, 75, took over the government temporarily on July 31 when emergency surgery forced his famous brother to relinquish power for the first time since Cuba's 1959 revolution.

Video images released on October 28 showed the once towering revolutionary diminished to a frail and shuffling old man.

US congressman William Delahunt, one of the leaders of a delegation that visited Cuba around the same time, said he had concluded from discussions with officials there that if Castro did resume a political role, it would probably be setting broad policy, not governing on a day-to-day basis.

REUTERS SP LS RAI2113