US exaggerating Castro's illness: Chavez

Castro's recovery from surgery is slow and has risks, his close ally Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday, but he denied a Spanish newspaper report the Cuban leader's condition was serious.

Chavez, who regularly visits or speaks with Castro and gives frequent updates on his health in speeches, was less upbeat than he typically is about his mentor's convalescence following surgery on his intestine last year.

US doctors said the report on Tuesday in El Pais suggested Castro had received questionable or even botched care.

Chavez accused the United States of being behind false reports exaggerating the illness, which has forced Castro to temporarily hand power over to his brother on the communist-run island. "The empire (the United States) is bent on killing off Fidel Castro," Chavez said.

Castro, who has led Cuba since 1959, has not been seen in public since July, fueling speculation he is so ill he may never return to power.

"I'm not a doctor, I'm not at Fidel's bedside but he's not in a serious condition as some say, nor does he have cancer," Chavez told reporters during a visit to Ecuador.

"He said (to me) it's a slow recovery process not without risk. He's 80 years old," Chavez added, referring to a telephone chat with Castro about a week ago.

El Pais reported that Castro was in serious condition and being fed intravenously. It said he had undergone three failed operations on his large intestine for diverticulitis, or inflamed bulge in the intestine.

Based on the El Pais report, U.S. doctors who do not have first-hand knowledge of Castro's condition, said Castro's doctors erred by seeking to avoid a colostomy - or opening in the abdomen to get rid of stool - after an initial operation to remove part of his large intestine.

They said the risks of complication and infection for a person of his age were high.

"I think the prognosis is very grave at this point," said Dr. Roshini Rajapaksa, a gastroenterologist at New York University Medical center and assistant professor at the NYU School of Medicine.

Yet a Spanish doctor, who examined him in December, stood by his opinion Castro is recovering despite the El Pais report. Surgeon Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido has not changed his prognosis, his secretary told Reuters on Tuesday.

Cuban officials have declined to comment on the latest media reports of Castro's health. His illness is being treated as a state secret.

In a New Year's message issued on December 30, Castro told Cubans that he was recovering slowly from surgery and said his recovery was "far from being a lost battle."

A US official who spoke on condition of anonymity on Tuesday said that whether the El Pais report is accurate or not, it was noteworthy that the government had dealt with his absence.

"This doesn't change the picture. The man's condition is still serious," the official said. "He has not reappeared and their system is coping with that and that's the real story."

The Age