Cuba's Castro recovering, giving orders-Chavez

CARACAS, Venezuela, Sep 4 (Reuters) Cuban leader Fidel Castro is now able to write notes and give orders as he recovers from surgery, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said.

Castro temporarily handed power to his brother Raul on July 31 to recover from intestinal surgery after nearly 50 years of uninterrupted rule over the communist island.

''He's writing already, (before) he couldn't even write, he was in recovery,'' Chavez said during his weekly Sunday broadcast, showing a handwritten note he said Castro had given him during his surprise visit to Cuba last week.

''He already sits up, writes, he has a phone, he gives orders, instructions.'' Castro's exact health problem is a state secret in Cuba, leading to intense speculation over his and condition and the future of Cuba's government. He has not been seen in public since the announcement of the handover.

Cuban officials have denied rumors that Castro has cancer, but a Cuban surgeon speaking on condition of anonymity told Reuters that ''something very bad must have happened to the Comandante.'' Televised images taken during Chavez' visit showed Castro sitting up and speaking enthusiastically in further evidence that he is recovering.

Raul, considered much less charismatic than his brother, has remained largely out of public view.

Chavez, who says he is one of the few people in the world who knows what happened to Castro, has helped Cuba undermine a strict US embargo by sending cheap oil and boosting commercial relations.

Agreements between Cuba and Venezuela, the world's No. 5 oil exporter, have brought more than 20,000 Cuban doctors to Venezuela to provide medical services for the poor.

The program, one of numerous oil-funded social projects, has helped Chavez build a strong political support base and he is widely expected to win a reelection bid in December.

Reuters DH GC0408