Cuba's President Fidel Castro writes while lying in bed in Havana in this August 13, 2006 file photo. Castro, in his first statement on his health crisis in almost 10 months, said on May 23 he was eating enough to recover from several intestinal operations and months on an I/V. - Reuters

HAVANA (Reuters):

Cuban leader Fidel Castro says he is recovering from several intestinal operations that had him on a drip for months, but has given no sign he plans to resume power.

Ten monthsafter Castro last appeared in public even his closest aides are no longer venturing predictions on when he will be back to lead the Western hemisphere's only Communist nation.

"For now I do what I must do, mainly think and write about matters I believe are important," Castro, 80, wrote in his latest column, published on Thursday by the government newspaper Granma. The article was released to reporters on Wednesday evening.

Castro has not appeared in public since emergency surgery for intestinal bleeding forced him to cede power temporarily on July 31 last year to his brother and Defense Minister Raul Castro, for the first time since his 1959 revolution.

During his long absence, the government has issued photos and video of the ailing Castro and in recent months, he has reasserted himself through a series of newspaper columns.

Rehabilitation exercises

In Thursday's piece, his 11th since March, Castro said he was spending his time reading and writing, receiving information, talking to his aides by telephone and doing rehabilitation exercises.

In his most detailed account of his health crisis, Castro said his initial surgery was not successful and he had to spend "many months" being fed intravenously, which prolonged his recovery.

He said he was now eating solid food and had regained weight to a stable 176 pounds (80 kg).

Details of Castro's illness have been a closely guarded state secret. Officials in the U.S. government, which has tried to oust him for decades, suspected last year that he had terminal cancer.

But a Spanish newspaper, El Pais, reported in January that Castro had botched surgery for diverticulitis, or inflamed bulging of the large intestine, that was complicated by serious infection and needed three operations, including a colostomy.