HAVANA, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- Cuban President Fidel Castro is in "very grave" condition in Havana with an intestinal infection and complications, Spain's El Pais newspaper reports.
The newspaper Tuesday quoted two unnamed sources at a Madrid hospital that employs a surgeon who treated Castro in December as saying the 80-year-old leader has diverticulitis that is not responding to treatment.
"A grave infection in the large intestine, at least three failed operations and various complications have left the Cuban dictator, Fidel Castro, laid up with a very grave prognosis," the report said.
When Spanish doctor Garcia Sabrido attended Castro in December, he reportedly said Castro had an abdominal wound that was leaking more than one pint of fluids a day, causing "a severe loss of nutrients," and ordered Castro to be fed intravenously. Despite the complications, he said Castro was recovering from his ailment.
However, when questioned by CNN Tuesday, Sabrido denied he was one of the sources for the El Pais report on Castro's health.
Castro fell ill in July, and on July 31, provisionally ceded power as head of the government and the Communist Party to his 75-year-old brother, Raul.
