Recovering Castro tells Chavez he feels 'very well'

HAVANA: Cuban leader Fidel Castro, recovering from intestinal surgery, told his Venezuelan counterpart and close ally Hugo Chavez that he feels "very well," the official newspaper Granma said on Wednesday.   

"I feel very well. I'm doing nearly everything," Castro was quoted as saying by phone late Monday to Chavez, as well as Haitian President Rene Preval, when the two leaders were meeting in the Haitian capital to sign cooperation accords that include Cuba.   

Castro said he had been visited by Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez earlier in the day.   

The Cuban leader, 80, is still recovering from intestinal surgery eight months ago that left him in frail physical health and forced him to all but withdraw from public view.   

The Venezuelan leader mentioned a possible meeting with Bolivian President Evo Morales in April, the one year anniversary of an alternative trade bloc comprised by Bolivia, Cuba and Venezuela.   

And he said he had extended an offer to Haitian President Rene Preval to sign on to the economic accord, ALBA, the Boliviarian Alternative for the Americas.   

"I was just telling Rene that it is important that he join ALBA right away," Chavez reportedly told Castro, adding that any formal induction naturally would wait "until you're better, Fidel."   

Castro told Chavez he had closely followed the Venezuelan president's recent Latin American tour meant to track -- and badger -- his nemesis US President George W. Bush who is wrapping up his own trip to the region on Wednesday.   

Chavez traveled to Argentina, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Jamaica and Haiti, while the US leader's tour encompassed Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico.   

Chavez said he had gifts for Castro gathered from his travels throughout the continent that he would deliver whenever he next visits Havana.    

"I have gifts from Argentina, from Bolivia as well, from Nicaragua and from Jamaica. Everyone sends their best," he said. "I told them all that you're on the mend and will continue to get better," Granma quoted Chavez as saying.   

Castro also had words of praise for his Venezuelan protege, who has emerged as Latin America's new leftist firebrand, saying that Chavez's speeches during his Latin American tour "had been brilliant."   

The Cuban leader's medical condition appears to have improved markedly in recent weeks. He had been sufficiently ill after his surgery to temporarily handed the reins of government to his brother Raul Castro, 75, the defense chief and regime's number two.   

The Cuban government has given very little detail on Fidel Castro's health, which it considers a state secret, but Castro appears to be much more robust and alert.   

On Tuesday, the government said Castro was now recovering at a faster pace and taking part in daily government affairs, indicating he may return to the helm of Cuba's communist government soon.   

"The pace of his recovery process has picked up. We are all expecting it to be completed shortly," Vice President Jose Ramon Fernandez told reporters.   

Still, Fernandez said, "It is clear that after a lengthy illness one has to rest and take precautions and factor in the absolutely overwhelming dedication he always gives his work, hours and hours, and days without rest; and we have to protect him from that."   

US intelligence officials from Cuba's arch-enemy, the United States, said it looked as if he would not be long for this world.   

Now, Cuban authorities again sound convinced that the man who has led Cuba for more than four decades may well make it back on the job. And signs of the old Fidel have been starting to emerge. Castro was on the phone to Haiti's capital "in talks on a cooperation agreement between Cuba, Venezuela and Haiti," Haiti's President Preval said after signing the deal with Chavez, Castro's closest ally, and Cuban vice president Esteban Lazo.   

On Monday, close Castro associate Felipe Perez Roque told reporters in Paris that Fidel Castro "is improving noticeably" and is more involved in daily government business.   

So Cuba's enemies intent on his demise "are going to have to wait," he warned.