Cubans grapple with Castro's new frail image

HAVANA, Sep 2 (Reuters) New video footage showed an improving Fidel Castro but Cubans said today it was clear their felled leader was still ailing a month after he temporarily ceded power following intestinal surgery.

Castro's careful crafted image of invincibility since sweeping to power in a 1959 revolution and entering into battle with the United States has been broken by two government broadcast videos showing him vulnerable and ailing at age 80.

''Fidel looked much better, more animated and stronger, but at the same time it appears he has quite a ways to go before being completely well,'' a man named Jorge said as he sold produce at a Havana market. He, like others interviewed, asked that his full name not be used.

Communist authorities yesterday broadcast a seven-minute video of Castro receiving friend and ally Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president who stopped briefly in Havana on his return from a foreign tour.

''It makes me sad every time I see him in his sickbed. For me he has been a guide, always leading the way, and to see him like that, even if he is better, fills me with sorrow,'' said Antonio, a retiree.

The Cuban leader handed over power for the first time in 47 years to his younger brother, Defense Minister Raul Castro, on July 31.

Castro appeared much stronger than when he was last seen in a video on Aug, 13, when Chavez visited him to celebrate his 80th birthday. Then, a frailer-looking Castro was shown only in bed covered by a blanket.

Yesterday's video showed a pleased but gaunt Castro resting on a bed in red pajamas giving Chavez a big hug and kissing and talking briefly with the Venezuelan leader's daughter and granddaughter.

The clip then cut to Castro and Chavez at a small table engaged in animated conversation and writing brief notes of praise to each other.

Photographs published today by the official press showed Castro was sitting on his bed at the time, with the table alongside and Chavez in a chair.

MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS What exactly ails the legendary rebel is considered a state secret and acting President Raul Castro has remained largely out of public view.

''He looks better, but honestly for a month after surgery and even at 80 years old, something very bad must have happened to the Comandante,'' a Cuban surgeon said.

''If he just had an ulcer, or some other not too serious condition, he would be up and around by now, running things on the phone,'' he said on condition of anonymity.

The secrecy has created a great deal of speculation over Castro's health and a possible successor.

Opinions among foreign doctors and diplomats range from that Castro has cancer, flatly denied by officials, to a deterioration of his intestines due to age and stress.

But there is almost a unanimous view that leadership is moving toward Raul Castro and then to a younger generation.

The government broadcast showed Chavez upon arrival yesterday hugging Raul Castro and then Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage and Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, both much younger and considered future leaders.

A government statement said Chavez also met with Raul Castro, Lage, Perez Roque and ''other Communist Party and government leaders'' during his visit.

Cuba expert Phil Peters, vice president of the Virginia-based Lexington Institute, anticipated a lengthy transition.

''A succession is clearly under way, but it will be rather lengthy and with Fidel Castro playing a role in the process,'' Peters said. ''Cubans are being given time to adjust to a change in leadership and Fidel not being around like before.'' REUTERS AB VV2250