Cuban President Fidel Castro in an October 18 Reuters file photo.
WASHINGTON (Reuters):
THE CENTRAL Intelligence Agency (CIA) has concluded that Cuban President Fidel Castro suffers from Parkinson's disease and could have difficulty coping with the duties of office as his condition worsens, an official said on Wednesday.
The assessment, completed in recent months, suggests the non-fatal but debilitating disease has progressed far enough to warrant questions among United States policy makers about the communist country's future in the next several years.
MORE OUTWARD SIGNS
"The assessment is that he has the disease and that his condition has progressed. There appears to be more outward signs," said an official who is familiar with the assessment.
Bush administration officials and members of Congress have already been briefed on the intelligence agency's findings about Castro.
IDEOLOGICAL ODDS
The Cuban leader, 79, has been in power on the island of 11 million people since leading a 1959 revolution and has long been at ideological odds with Washington.
But U.S. diplomats played down the significance of any CIA assessment, and said they were not using such intelligence to make policy decisions about Castro or Cuba.
