MADRID, Dec. 26 (UPI) -- A Spanish senior surgeon who examined Cuban leader Fidel Castro in Havana announced Tuesday that the 80-year-old president does not have cancer.
At a Madrid news conference, Dr. Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido, chief of surgery at the Gregorio Maranon de Madrid hospital, said Castro is responding well to treatment, the BBC reported. He did not discuss specifics of Castro's illness but said Castro has stopped smoking, which was a likely cause of the sickness.
Sunday, the Barcelona El Periodico newspaper reported Garcia had flown to Havana on Thursday on a jet chartered by the Cuban government. The plane carried medical equipment, some of which is not available in Havana, the article said.
Castro had intestinal surgery on July 31 and has not been seen in public since. His brother Raul Castro has been filling for him as leader.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is a close friend of Castro's and, after visiting the Cuban leader, issued a statement denying cancer is the illness.
