FIDEL CASTRO, the consummate survivor who has ruled Cuba for 47 years, faced down ten American presidents and defied dozens of assassination attempts, loosened his grip on power yesterday, fuelling speculation that the last communist regime in the West may be entering its final days.

Just two weeks shy of his 80th birthday, Señor Castro handed over the reins to his younger brother, Raúl, while he underwent emergency surgery on his intestine to halt “sustained” internal bleeding.

It was the first time that he had ceded control of Cuba, even temporarily, since his band of revolutionaries took over in 1959, beginning half a century of confrontation with the US.

The news was broken in a special announcement on state television on Monday night, astounding Cubans who had been watching a popular soap opera.

Carlos Valenciaga, Señor Castro’s secretary, read out a letter from the President saying that the strain of recent trips to Latin America and celebrations marking the revolution had forced him to have surgery.

He said that he would be in bed for several weeks after the “complicated” operation. A grand celebration of his birthday on August 13 was postponed until December.

Last night, a television presenter read out a statement from Señor Castro. He said his health was “stable” and “as for my spirits, I feel perfectly fine”.

That their normally loquacious leader did not appear himself sparked fevered speculation on the streets of Havana, where the 11 million Cubans still cannot speak publicly about politics, much less the fate of their leader. Yesterday Cubans, who either like or loathe him, anxiously awaited news of his condition.

At least to outsiders, some were bullish. “You watch, he’s much stronger than this,” one woman said. “He’ll be over it in no time.”

But others said privately that this marked the beginning of the end of the regime. “I’ll tell you one thing: without Fidel, this whole thing is finished,” a 49-year-old man said in hushed tones.

The questions over his eventual succession, until recently taboo, have burst into the open. Is this the end for Castro? And if so, what happens afterwards? More than two thirds of Cubans have known no other leader.

There were raucous celebrations in Miami as exiles who had fled during Señor Castro’s rule looked forward to what they hoped was his imminent demise.

“This is a clear reminder that the end of the Castro regime is approaching, and that the only solution is free elections and the rule of law,” Lincoln Diaz-Balart, a Florida Republican congressman, said.

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