Castro 'Very Pleased' After Meeting with Ortega
HAVANA, Cuba (AFP): Cuban President Fidel Castro had a "brotherly" meeting with visiting Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, the latest in a parade of friends underscoring that the Cuban leader is well on the mend.

"Comrade Fidel was very pleased after his meeting with Ortega," said an official statement after the Nicaraguan leader's four-hour visit on Saturday.

The "brotherly meeting ... was a new step in the deepening bilateral relations between Nicaragua and Cuba," said the statement read on television.

Ortega, 61, is the fourth ally to visit Castro, 80, in two weeks, following Castro's fellow leftists Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Bolivian President Evo Morales.

An esteemed ally to visit of late was Nong Duc Manh, who leads Vietnam's Communist Party, from June 1-3.

Chavez and Morales also met with Raul Castro, 76, a brother of Fidel and Cuba's interim leader since Fidel Castro underwent intestinal surgery last July. Fidel Castro handed over power temporarily after more than four decades at Cuba's helm to Raul Castro on July 31.

Since then, Fidel Castro has remained mostly out of sight, recovering from what he has said were several operations, and has yet to say whether he will officially resume his duties as Cuba's president.

During their meeting, Fidel Castro thanked Ortega for backing Cuba and Venezuela's demand for the extradition from the United States of Cuban anti-Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles, sought in a 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people that was allegedly planned out in Venezuela.

The two leaders also discussed details of joint Cuban-Venezelan "Operation Miracle" that provides free eye surgery to thousands of needy Latin Americans, and Cuba's help in Nicaragua's fight against illiteracy.

Nicaragua, which is aiming to stamp out illiteracy in five years, is planning to adopt a successful Cuban literacy program, called "Yes, I can," which has been used widely in Venezuela as well.

Ortega also met Saturday with Raul Castro, said the official statement.

Ortega was expected in Cuba on Tuesday, but the visit was postponed after he canceled a visit to Italy and traveled to Senegal instead. Cuba concludes his three-continent tour that also took in Venezuela, Algeria, Libya and Iran.

Ortega became Nicaragua's president after his Sandanistas toppled dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979 and set about building a socialist nation with help from Cuba. He was elected again in November.

Chavez spent six hours talking with Fidel Castro after arriving here Tuesday, Cuban media reported.

Venezuela is Cuba's staunchest international ally and its support on the energy front is critical to the economic stability of the America's only one-party communist regime.

Castro, during Manh's visit, granted his first TV interview since he took ill, and appeared to be looking better, but made no mention of any eventual return to power.

Last week, however, Chavez was quoted as telling Fidel Castro, who has been pictured in video and still images in a track suit, "I think it is time for you to put your (military) uniform back on."