Source: (AHN) Reporter: Matthew Borghese
31, 2011 06:33 am EDT
A new round of rumors says former Cuban President and revolutionary
Communist Fidel Castro has passed away at his home in Havana. The rumors
have spread online through microblogging site Twitter and among the
Cuban exile community in south Florida.
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A spam e-mail has circulated falsely tracing the news back to Chilean
news agency 24Horas.cl, but the site has as of yet made no such
statement involving Fidel's death. Nonetheless, sources within the Cuban
exile community in Miami confirm to AHN that they are aware of the
rumors and are continuing to monitor the situation through their
contacts on the island and in Washington.
Fidel's official Twitter account has had a recent flood of activity, yet
it is impossible to verify if the 85-year-old former president actually
made the posts himself. The tweets, posted in Spanish, were links to
news articles involving Cuba and did not address the health rumors.
Rumors of Fidel's death sent jubilant Cuban-Americans into the streets
of Miami's Little Havana neighborhood in 2006 and again in 2007. The
rumors were centered around Fidel's poor health and were the result of
Cuba's secretive Communist regime where his health is a state secret. It
wasn't until July 31, 2006 that Fidel issued a public proclamation
transferring power to his younger brother, Raul.
In February 2008, Fidel officially resigned as President of Cuba after
serving 51 years in office. The peaceful transition solidified the
80-year-old Raul's control over the government, where he remains the
current president. Fidel dispelled rumors he had died in secrecy with
several photo shoots throughout the years, as well as a public
appearance in 2009.
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