We had no official contacts with any of the new Cuban leaders and therefore nothing to go on but rumours.

I want to get from Cuban leaders a solution what we should do.

The Cuban leader, who will turn 65 next week, was asked whether he still played sports.

"Hugo, I am sure that nothing or no one can hold you back," the Cuban leader said.

Over the coming decades, the Cuban leader would continue to make public addresses using this version of events.

But the Cuban leaders themselves, she said, "would not want to cut off their only source of income."

"For all your words, even those with which there may be some disagreement, I offer my thanks," the Cuban leader said.

In the last decade the Cuban leader has lost or dropped one close associate after another.

He said the Cuban leader "finds himself well cared for in a hospital and has been conscious the whole time."

At a news conference with foreign journalists on election day, the Cuban leader hinted he might step down.