'I was at death's door, but I came back' says Castro

Fidel Castro has given details of just how sick he was when he was forced to give up power four years ago, saying in a rare interview that he was weak, dangerously thin and thought at times he could not go on.

"I was at death's door, but I came back," the former Cuban leader told the Mexican daily La Jornada yesterday. His younger brother Raul now leads the country, though Fidel remains head of the Communist Party.

The elder Castro burst back on the scene in July after nearly four years in the shadows.

In the five-hour interview with La Jornada's editor, Castro said his weight fell to 66kg - extremely thin for a man thought to be about 6ft 3in and known for his large frame.

"I couldn't aspire to live any longer, much less anything else," Castro said. "I asked myself several times if these people (the doctors) would let me live under these conditions, or whether they would allow me to die."

The government has never said officially what Castro was suffering from when he fell ill in July 2006, though it was widely reported to have been complications involving diverticulitis, an intestinal ailment common in older people.

In the interview, Castro described lying in a hospital room and wondering how long it would be before his suffering would be over.