30188: (news) Chamberlain: Recovering Castro phones Chavez in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

    HAVANA, March 13 (Reuters) - Convalescing Cuban leader Fidel Castro is
gradually getting back to work on matters of state and took part by
telephone in a presidential meeting in Haiti this week, officials said.
     The 80-year-old revolutionary has not appeared in public since
emergency surgery forced him to hand over power to his brother Raul last
July, but his aides say he is growing stronger by the day and using the
telephone a lot.
     Castro called four times to speak to presidents Hugo Chavez of
Venezuela and Rene Preval of Haiti during their meeting in Port au Prince
on Monday to discuss Venezuelan and Cuba aid to the hemisphere's poorest
country.
     "Fidel also took part in that meeting by telephone. He was very keen
to make sure the trilateral cooperation succeeds," Preval said at a news
conference.
     At the meeting, also attended by Cuban Vice President Esteban Lazo,
Chavez announced $21 million in Venezuelan funding to extend medical
programs carried out by Cuban doctors in remote rural areas in Haiti.
     Castro stepped down formally on July 31 after complicated intestinal
surgery. He is thought to have suffered from diverticulitis, or inflamed
bulges in the large intestine, though his condition is a state secret.