Chávez says reports on Castro exaggerated

QUITO, Ecuador -- Fidel Castro's recovery from surgery is slow and has risks, his close ally President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela said yesterday, but he denied a newspaper report the Cuban leader's condition was serious.

Chávez, who regularly visits or speaks with Castro and gives frequent updates on his health in speeches, was less upbeat than he typically is about his mentor's convalescence after surgery on his intestine last year.

Chávez said the United States was behind false reports exaggerating the illness, which has forced Castro to temporarily hand power over to his brother on the communist-run island.

"The empire [the United States] is bent on killing off Fidel Castro," Chávez said.

Castro, who has led Cuba since 1959, has not been seen in public since July, fueling speculation he is so ill that he may never return to power.

"I'm not a doctor, I'm not at Fidel's bedside, but he's not in a serious condition as some say, nor does he have cancer," Chávez said during a visit to Ecuador.

"He said [to me] it's a slow recovery process not without risk. He's 80 years old," Chávez added, referring to a telephone chat with Castro about a week ago.

The Spanish newspaper El Pais reported this week that Castro was in serious condition and being fed intravenously. It said he had undergone three failed operations on his large intestine for diverticulitis.

Chávez called Castro "one of those men that will never die."

"I had recent reports that Fidel continues in a slow recovery process, nothing simple," he said. "I'm not going to go into details, but I'm sure these catastrophic versions that have already killed him several times are way, way off."

Cuban officials have declined to comment on the latest media reports of Castro's health. His illness is being treated as a state secret.

A Spanish doctor, who examined him in December, stood by his opinion Castro is recovering despite the El Pais report. Surgeon Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido has not changed his prognosis, his secretary said yesterday.