Twitter fuels Fidel Castro death rumor
January 5th, 2012 - 7:26 pm ICT by Aishwarya BhattHavana, Jan 5 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Cuban leaders do not find Fidel Castro’s death rumor on Twitter funny. The country’s administration has spoken against the rumor which spread over the miniblog this week.
Twitter is accused of helping spread the rumor. State news media says the organization allowed the rumor to be started on Monday by a user with the name “Naroh.” The country is also blaming Cuban expatriates of helping fuel the rumor.
When reporters contacted the account owner of “Naroh,” he denied starting the rumor although he admitted that he joked with the news when he became aware of it on Twitter.
Castro is regarded as the most powerful man in Cuba despite the fact that he has handed power of running the country over to his younger brother Raul. The 89-year-old is officially retired after struggling with ill-health. He is currently kept under care and regularly writes in national newspapers.
When reporters enquired about the health of Castro in the wake of the rumors, the administration declined to provide any details.
Nonetheless, state-run website Cubadebate announced on Wednesday that the rumor is the imagination of “people inventing things in the virtual world that even the CIA could not accomplish in real life.”
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Tags: brother raul, cia, cuba, cuban expatriates, fidel castro, fidel castro death, havana, ill health, imagination, inventing things, national newspapers, news media, powerful man, state news, twitter, virtual world