Cubans here doubt Castro is in danger

Since the first day of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro's announced gastric surgery - that forced him to put his brother Ral in power - the Queens Cuban community didn't believe that Castro was going to die any time soon. Now news dispatches indicate that they may have been correct in their feelings. Castro is recuperating from his surgery according to his close friend, Venezuelan President Hugo Chvez.
Castro, who has dominated Cuba for 47 years, underwent surgery Monday, July 31, but the Cuban government has not revealed the exact nature of Castro's illness claiming that it is a state secret. Cuban officials and Latin American allies said the former guerrilla leader is recuperating from gastric surgery, but he is facing months of convalescence.
&#8220Fidel Castro, a hug for you, friend and comrade, I know you are getting better,” Chvez said in his &#8220Hello President” show, broadcast live every weekend across Venezuela, and parts of Colombia, and some of the Caribbean countries. 
&#8220For the experience we have had for the last 38 years - since I left Cuba - I don't believe Fidel Castro is very sick because he always had played the fool, when needed it,” said Cecilia Soler, of Corona, and is a member of the Cubans' Lions Club of New York. &#8220He knows he is an 80-year-old man and he wants to perpetrate the communist system in Cuba through his brother Ral. He is clowning around to show the world he is still in power,”
The same sentiments were expressed by many Queens Cubans.
&#8220I don't believe he is dying,” said Consuelo Roque, of Elmhurst and a member of the Cuban Cultural Club of New York and the Cuban Catholic Action organizations, who left Cuba 40 years ago. &#8220Castro always has appeared and disappeared on his own. When news reports say he is very sick or has died, he reappears triumphantly. Castro always disappears when he has problems with the economy, and or with the production,”
&#8220When we left Cuba we only had a pair of shoes and three used suits. That was the only luggage we could take out. Castro's officials even took off our wedding rings,” said Soler, who is married to Arnaldo Soler, former president of the Cubans' Lions Club.
&#8220If Castro dies, I have been in touch with my sister to go to Cuba for Christmas,” said Amanda Rodrguez, a Cuban, who left the island 39 years ago.
&#8220It would be so beautiful to go back to Cuba to show my children my place of birth,” Soler agreed.