Castro gets bedside visit from Chavez

HAVANA - Cuba's ailing Fidel Castro got a bedside visit from his main ally, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the Communist Party newspaper Granma said today, as it published pictures of the two leftist leaders.

The daily said Castro, who temporarily ceded power to his younger brother, Raul Castro, on July 31 due to surgery for intestinal bleeding, spent more than three hours with Chavez on Sunday in what it called "An Unforgettable Afternoon Among Brothers."

Granma said the leaders shared gifts, anecdotes, laughter and a frugal snack as they marked Castro's 80th birthday.

Chavez, who has helped Cuba recover from the collapse of its former benefactor, the Soviet Union, by providing cheap oil and money for Cuban doctors, was given a portrait of Castro by Mexican artist David Alfaro Siqueiros.

"This is the best of all the visits I've ever made," Chavez was quoted as saying.

Chavez's presents to Castro included a dagger with a marble handle and scabbard that belonged to South American independence hero and Venezuelan patriot Simon Bolivar.

Chavez, according to Granma, was impressed by Castro's recovery. "What kind of human being is this? What's he made of?" asked Chavez.

In one photo, Castro lay in bed in what looked like a hospital room. The two men, fierce critics of US policies in Latin America, wore bright red shirts. The pictures were posted on Granma's website.

Also present was Raul Castro, the defence minister who made his first public appearance as acting president on Sunday when he greeted Chavez at Havana airport.

The photos of Castro with Chavez followed the publication yesterday of a series of pictures of Castro on his own.

"First you have the cheesy Photoshop picture. At least the second one was a little better," White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters.

Another US official said there was no reason to doubt the authenticity of the photos, but they were being analyzed.

Looking good

"Given the fact that he had major surgery two weeks ago, he looks pretty good for a man his age," the official said.

There were no new details on Castro's medical condition, which the veteran revolutionary has termed a state secret.

But in a message to Cubans yesterday, Castro said his recovery could take time. "I suggest you be optimistic and, at the same time, always prepared to receive bad news," he said.

A Brazilian Catholic priest and liberation theologian, Carlos Alberto Libanio Christo, known as Frei Betto, returned from a visit to Havana today and said he had talked to Raul Castro but was unable to see the "comandante."

"The doctors recommended that he didn't have too many visitors," Betto said.

Betto said Raul Castro had refrained from all appearances until Sunday, "because he didn't want to give the wrong impression to the people." He said Raul had left him with the message "Fidel will return."

News Castro had appeared in photos came as a relief to many Cubans worried his death could create upheaval in one of the world's last communist outposts. But some thought his condition was worse than the nation was being told.

After 47 years in power, Castro is the last of the key Cold War-era figures and has survived 10 hostile US presidents.

"Now he has to let others govern. He has done enough already," said Alexis Wilson, a driver sitting outside his dilapidated home in Havana's Vedado district.

- REUTERS