Castro says Cuba still facing hardships

HAVANA, July 11 (Reuters) Convalescing Cuban leader Fidel Castro let citizens know today he is still following domestic affairs closely, saying the island has yet to put the hardships of its post-Soviet economic crisis behind it.

In a column published by the Communist Party newspaper, Granma, the 80-year-old leader who has not appeared in public for almost a year berated a government official for declaring on television that the ''special period'' was over.

''It made my hair stand on end ... Where on earth did this brute come from,'' he wrote.

Castro said the ''special period,'' a euphemism for the dire straits Cuba lived through after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, had ''eased'' but was not over due to record high world prices for oil.

Castro reported delays in Cuba's plan to replace Soviet-era motors in tens of thousands of state-owned vehicles with fuel-efficient Chinese engines bought on easy credit terms.

His column entitled ''Cuba's self-critique'' recognized there was discontent over income inequalities between Cubans who earn wages in pesos and those who receive bonuses or remittances in hard currency from their families living abroad.

He said Cubans who receive foreign currency are privileged because they still enjoy free social services such as health care and education, and food at highly subsidized prices.

''The real and visible absence of equality and the lack of information gives rise to criticism, especially among the most needy sectors,'' Castro wrote.

Castro, who took power in a 1959 revolution, was forced to hand over the reins of government to his brother Raul last July after undergoing emergency bowel surgery. He is believed to have had several intestinal operations, including a colostomy.

Since March he has returned to public life by writing articles from his hospital quarters.

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