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Comandante

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban President Fidel Castro on Thursday dismissed a CIA assessment he is suffering from Parkinson's disease as a fabrication by his U.S. enemies who wish to see him dead.

"They say Castro has this or that illness. The last thing they invented is that I have Parkinson's," he said in a speech to University of Havana students. The 79-year-old Cuban leader spoke for more than five hours standing at a lectern.

A recent analysis by the CIA concluded Castro had Parkinson's and could have difficulty coping with the duties of office as his condition worsens, an official in Washington told Reuters on Wednesday.

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Comandante

HAVANA -- Rebutting reports he is suffering from Parkinson's disease, Cuban President Fidel Castro told the nation in a televised speech ending early Friday that he is feeling "better than ever."

Dressed in his trademark combat fatigues, a seemingly fit Castro stood at a wooden lectern for close to six hours and joked about an American intelligence assessment that he may be suffering from Parkinson's and could deteriorate in coming years.

"They have tried to kill me off so many times," Castro said.

But diplomats and experts say that only Castro's inner circle -- including a team of top-flight physicians -- know whether the 79-year-old Cuban leader has Parkinson's or any other chronic ailment or is merely showing signs of aging.

"We were always trying to figure that out," Vicki Huddleston, the top U.S. diplomat in Cuba from 1999 to 2002, said in a recent interview. "It's all speculation. We really don't know."

Like most aspects of his personal life, Castro's health is a closely guarded secret.

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