Castro has post-surgery stitches problem-diplomat

QUITO, Jan 16 (Reuters) Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro has been having problems with the healing of his stitches after stomach surgery last July, a diplomat said yesterday.

The diplomat, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue, was among one of the presidential delegations with close relations to Havana that were in Quito for the swearing in of leftist Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa.

The diplomat, speaking to Reuters, also dismissed suspicions that Castro, 80, may have cancer. US officials have said they suspect Castro, who handed over power temporarily to his brother Raul Castro last July 31 when he underwent stomach surgery, could be terminally ill with cancer.

But they have offered no evidence to support this.

''Fidel has problems with his stitches healing,'' the diplomat said.

Cuban officials in Havana were not immediately available to comment on the remarks. But Cuban authorities have been insistent they will not divulge details of Castro's illness.

The diplomat said Castro was taken to the operating theatre seven times in a single day in December to deal with the problem of his stitches. He did not give details.

Castro, who took power in Cuba in 1959, has not been seen in public since July 26. He handed over power to his brother five days later, fueling speculation he is so ill he may never return to power on the communist-run Caribbean island.

In a New Year's message issued on December 30, Castro told Cubans that he was recovering slowly from surgery and said his recovery was ''far from being a lost battle.'' Also in December, a Spanish doctor who examined Castro said he does not have cancer and could return to govern Cuba if he recovered fully from his surgery.

On Saturday, Castro's eldest son, Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, told reporters in Chile that his father is on the mend.

''He's getting better, better, I see him improving,'' the Soviet-trained nuclear physicist said, adding that his father was in a ''positive and optimistic mood.'' REUTERS PKS BST0431