SRC="../../../mira/barule2.gif" ALT="top separator bar img" WIDTH="320" HEIGHT="1">

Cuban Interests Section denies rumors of Castro death

Washington, Aug 27 (EFE). - Talks about the alleged death or grave illness of Cuban President Fidel Castro are just rumors, the Cuban Interests Section in Washington said Wednesday.

Officials there said they had no information that Castro was sick and that, as far as they know, the Cuban leader is in good health.

Speculations on Castro's health have abounded during recent weeks, especially with a marked reduction in his public appearances and long speeches in the last few months.

In 1997, he has only delivered no more than six public addresses.

Unconfirmed reports of Castro's death or his serious illness went around late Wednesday afternoon in Miami's "Little Havana" when radio and television stations broadcasting in Spanish in Miami interrupted their regular programs to air alleged reports of the Cuban strongman's condition.

Talk about Castro's death spread throughout Miami's large Cuban exile community after television channel Telemundo 51 interrupted its regular broadcast to air an exclusive report that Castro had died or may be seriously ill.

María Lewis, the television station's news chief, told EFE that their information had come from a Washington source.

She denied that they had cited Notimex as their sources after the Mexican news agency sent a dispatch denying it had sent out the story on Castro's health.

Notimex said Canal 51 had cited it and the Agence France Presse as sources of the report.

The rumor provoked an avalanche of calls to radio stations and police stations from people who want to know if there will be classes on Thursday in light of possible disturbances provoked by jubilant Cubans living in exile in Miami.

In Washington, Cuban-born Representative Ileana Ros-Lethinen expressed hope that the rumor was true.

Sources from Washington said the rumor may have sprung from a confusion with the death of Cuban revolutionary hero Rene Sanchez Castro or a confidential information from a Dominican Republic diplomat in Havana which leaked out in Washington.

A spokesman for the State Department said they had heard of the rumor but added they had no confirmation.

In Havana, reports say the situation in the Cuban capital remains normal and there are no indications that Castro may be sick. EFE