Venezuela's Chavez says Castro no longer bed-ridden

CARACAS, Venezuela, Aug 6 (Reuters) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez today said Cuban leader Fidel Castro is now able to leave his bed and hold conversations following stomach surgery that required him to temporarily hand over power to his brother.

''This morning I learned that he's doing well, that he's already standing up out of bed, he's talking -- more than he should, because he talks a lot,'' said Chavez during a conversation with Bolivian President Evo Morales broadcast on television. ''He has sent us regards.'' Venezuelan government sources yesterday told Reuters that Chavez does not have a trip to Cuba on his agenda despite media rumors that he was planning to visit Castro, a close Chavez ally whose country has benefited from preferential sales of Venezuelan crude oil. Castro was reported on Saturday to be able to eat and sit up.

Chavez canceled a scheduled trip to Bolivia to visit the opening of Bolivia's constituent assembly, charged with rewriting the country's constitution.

The Cuban government last week announced that Castro, 79, had handed control of the government temporarily to his younger brother Raul. Neither of the two leaders has made a public appearance since the announcement.

Castro has served as a political role model for both Morales and Chavez, who has become the most visible face of a group of increasingly influential leftist Latin American leaders.

REUTERS DH RK0057