Castro says eating enough, age only risk

HAVANA, May 24 (Reuters) Cuban leader Fidel Castro, in his first statement on his health crisis in almost 10 months, said he was eating enough to recover from several intestinal operations and months on an I/V.

''Today I receive orally everything my recovery requires,'' Castro, 80, yesterday said in an editorial column distributed by the Cuban government by e-mail. He said his main risk was age.

Castro, explaining his long silence, said he underwent several operations that ''at first were not successful,'' leading to his prolonged recovery.

''For many months I depended on I/Vs and catheters through which I received an important part of my nourishment,'' the leftist firebrand said.

Castro has not appeared in public since emergency surgery forced him to hand over power temporarily for the first time since his 1959 revolution to his brother Raul Castro on July 31. He is thought to have suffered from diverticulitis or inflamed bulging of the large intestine.

REUTERS DKS PM0713