By arranging long prison sentences for 75 dissidents — librarians, journalists, people just hoping for a taste of freedom someday — Fidel Castro has disproved some of the most cherished hopes and ideas about him and the island state he has now tyrannized for more than four decades.

MADRID, Spain - Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro has had at least three failed operations and complications from an intestinal infection and faces "a very grave prognosis," a Spanish newspaper reported Tuesday.

HAVANA - Cubans snapped up DVD players, motorbikes and pressure cookers for the first time Tuesday as Raul Castro's new government loosened controls on consumer goods and invited private farmers to plant tobacco, coffee and other crops on unused state land.

HAVANA - Cuba's Communist daily published new photographs of ailing leader Fidel Castro on Monday, showing him in bed on his 80th birthday during a visit with his brother Raul and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Old age did what nearly half a century of U.S. policy toward Cuba could not - get Fidel Castro out of office.

HAVANA - Fidel Castro will be in "perfect shape" to run for re-election to parliament next spring, the first step toward securing yet another term as Cuba's president, National Assembly head Ricardo Alarcon said Thursday.

HAVANA - Signaling its willingness to discuss improved relations with the Obama administration, Cuba on Tuesday granted three visiting members of the Congressional Black Caucus the first meeting with Fidel Castro by American officials since he fell ill in 2006.

HAVANA - Cuban state television Tuesday showed a video of a healthier looking Fidel Castro meeting with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and saying his recovery was "far from a lost battle," in the first images of the ailing leader in three months.

HAVANA - Little was known of Fidel Castro's condition Tuesday after he underwent an operation and temporarily turned over the Cuban presidency to his brother Raul.

HAVANA - Fidel Castro sought to reassure Cubans after intestinal surgery forced him to temporarily cede power to his brother for the first time in 47 years, releasing a statement saying his health is stable, his spirits good and the defense of the island guaranteed.

HAVANA - Photographs of Fidel Castro standing and talking on the phone were published Sunday in Cuba's state-run media, a day after the ailing leader appeared in a video to dispel rumors he was on his deathbed.

HAVANA - On his 80th birthday, Fidel Castro cautioned Cubans on Sunday that he faced a long recovery from surgery and advised them to prepare for "adverse news," but he urged them to stay optimistic.

CORAL GABLES, Fla. - The calls to Radio Mambi came from as far away as Europe: Cuban exiles were euphoric over Fidel Castro's illness and wanted to share their joy with the AM station known as the voice of Miami's Cuban community. Disregarding the official reports from Cuba, many of Radio Mambi's listeners were ready Tuesday to declare Castro dead, 47 years after he took power.

HAVANA - Cuban television on Tuesday showed the first images of Fidel Castro in more than five months, broadcasting a silent video of the ailing revolutionary chatting in a garden with visiting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

HAVANA - Fidel Castro said Thursday he doubts he'll make it to the end of Barack Obama's four-year term and instructed Cuban officials to start making their decisions without taking him into account.

After ruthlessness, longevity may be Fidel Castro’s greatest asset. He seized power in 1959 and has never relinquished it, even for a moment, until now. Only the monarchs of Great Britain and Thailand have served longer as heads of state.

He is not listed among those whose footprints stride mightily across the pages of Arizona history, but Raul Castro did make his mark.

HAVANA — Cuban President Raul Castro issued an unprecedented statement of regret on Wednesday over the death of a jailed dissident after a lengthy hunger strike that has sparked condemnation in Washington and in European capitals.