Raul Castro says brother Fidel on top of everything

HAVANA, Feb 9 (Reuters) Acting Cuban President Raul Castro said his brother Fidel was improving and ''on top of everything'' in his first comments to the foreign press since stepping in for the 80-year-old Cuban leader six months ago.

Raul Castro, after attending the opening of an international book fair in Havana, said his brother was ''improving by the day'' and had ''a telephone by his side that he uses a lot.'' ''Lucky for me he never calls me,'' added a smiling Raul Castro, known for his wry wit.

Fidel Castro, who ceded power temporarily July 31, has not appeared in public since undergoing emergency surgery for intestinal bleeding.

The operation meant Castro initially could not eat, but there also were media reports that at the end of last year his health worsened again and he had to be fed intravenously.

The ambassador to Cuba from ally Venezuela said on Thursday Castro was recovering well because he could eat once again.

''Fidel is improving progressively. The problem is that originally he could not take in foods but now he is taking in foods and that has improved his health significantly,'' Ambassador Ali Rodriguez told Venezuelan state television.

Castro's precise illness is a state secret but he is thought to be suffering from diverticulitis, a disorder of the large intestine.

Last month, Cuban state television showed Castro for the first time in three months. He looked stronger than in the previous video but still frail.

Castro's illness forced him to relinquish control for the first time since his 1959 revolution steered the Caribbean island on a socialist course and made Cuba an enduring ideological foe of the United States.

REUTERS PDM PM0928