NEW YORK, Oct 8: Cuban leader Fidel Castro may have terminal stomach cancer and may not return to power, Time Magazine reported on Saturday quoting US officials.

Mr Castro, 80, handed over the presidency for the first time in almost five decades to his brother Raul Castro, 75, who has long been Cuba’s defence chief, after undergoing intestinal surgery in July. He has largely remained out of the public spotlight since then.

Time.com noted in the report that the intelligence reports on Castro’s health could be wrong, but a Time’s reporter told CNN television: “Obviously, there is intelligence to that effect” that Castro will not recover and return to work.

“There have been lots of rumours over the decades about Castro’s health. This time, there’s specificity and they attribute credibility to the reports,” Burger said.*

“We will again have him leading the revolution,” said Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque just two days ago, speaking at an outdoor rally to protest the US trade embargo against Cuba, according to the Communist Party daily newspaper Granma.

But the magazine said that that many in the US government are now convinced that Castro, 80, has terminal cancer and will never return to power. “Certainly we have heard this, that this guy has terminal cancer,” said one US official.