CIA says Castro has Parkinson's disease

By David Morgan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The 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 nonfatal but debilitating disease has progressed far enough to warrant questions among U.S. policymakers about the communist country's future in the next several years.
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The Miami Herald, which originally reported the CIA assessment on Wednesday, said Castro could be entering a period in which medicines are less effective and mental functions start to deteriorate.

But the newspaper said Cuba analysts fear the possibility of a tumultuous period during which an incapacitated Castro refuses to give up power but can no longer lead.

{Effing sidescroll. Babble needs an Url function that actually Functions, meantime, can find on CNN home site and probably every other newsite by now}

[ 17 November 2005: Message edited by: Erik the Red ]