"All I can tell you is that he is recovering," Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, 57, told reporters at the opening of the Havana Biotechnology Congress, at Havana's Convention Center.
The scientific advisor to Cuba's State Council, who sports a beard like his father but is not quite as tall, made this brief comment seemingly to dispel weekend rumours in Washington that Castro, 80, was getting worse, not better.
Castro, the only leader Cuba has known for nearly five decades, handed the reins of power to his brother and defence minister Raul Castro, after undergoing intestinal surgery, saying on July 31 he would likely take months to recover.
Raul Castro, 75, makes public appearances rarely, and from time to time
say his brother is "improving" although his elder brother makes television appearances -- the latest was on October 28 -- and remains weak.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2006

`