Cuban leader Fidel Castro said on Monday that he underwent surgery and temporarily handed over power to his younger brother Raul Castro.

The intense agenda of a recent trip to Argentina "caused an acute intestinal problem, with sustained bleeding, which forced me to undergo a complex surgical operation," Castro said in a statement read by his secretary Carlos Valenciaga on state television.

The Cuban leader said he would be "out of power for several weeks" and had relinquished the presidency and the post as the first secretary of the Communist Party to Raul, who is defense minister and turned 75 in June.

Castro also said celebrations for his 80th birthday on Aug. 13 will be postponed until Dec. 2, the 50th anniversary of Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces.

Source: Xinhua