Bug Bite Explains Castro’s Absence

Out of the public eye for more than a week, President Fidel Castro told Cubans in a letter published Wednesday that he is recovering from a serious infection caused by a bug bite to his left leg.

“I am fine, dear compatriots, and I feel more optimistic than ever about the future of the Revolution,” the 76-year-old leader wrote in the letter published on the front page of the Communist Party daily Granma.

The letter was the first public word about Castro’s current illness since Saturday, when he excused himself from a session of the National Assembly, Cuba’s parliament, saying doctors had ordered him to rest after an unspecified injury to his leg.

The health of Castro, who is regularly seen in public several times a week, is a constant source of speculation among Cuba watchers. Rumors of ailments have been circulating for years.

Castro, who has ruled Cuba for nearly 44 years, said in the letter that the infection began after he started scratching a bug bite on the lower part of his left leg the night of Dec. 16.

Castro said he followed doctors’ instructions to keep the leg elevated and apply cold compresses when resting and continued with his regular work schedule. But by the morning of Dec. 19, the bite was bothering him more.

Doctors informed him that he had a staphylococcus infection and ordered more cold compresses, antibiotics and -- to his dismay -- bed rest.

“I didn’t have any other alternative but to resign myself,” Castro wrote. He begrudgingly then canceled a Friday night appearance at the anniversary celebration of the Federation of University Students and a Saturday morning session of the National Assembly.

“It was my duty to protect my beloved left leg,” he wrote. “With it, I have practiced many sports, including soccer, have run in races, jumped, swum, climbed mountains....

“It had never betrayed me,” the Cuban leader wrote of his left leg. “I couldn’t betray it now.”