Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage said on Saturday that Cuban leader Fidel Castro is recovering satisfactorily from surgery for gastrointestinal bleeding, according to Cuban news agency Prensa Latina.

Lage, who was in Bolivia for the opening of a convention slated for Sunday to rewrite its constitution, also said Castro sent his "fraternal greetings" to the people of the South American nation.

Later in the day, Bolivian President Evo Morales said in a speech to lawmakers in the capital Sucre that Castro has already recovered from the operation. Lage was also on the scene.

"What is now lacking is that he returns to running the country, " said Morales.

Meanwhile, the president of Cuba's Congress, Ricardo Alarcon de Quesada, said in a speech broadcast by CNN en Espanol on Saturday that Castro "remains in stable condition" and "is resting in order to recover as quickly as possible."

Castro, who turns 80 on Aug. 13, delegated power on Monday night to his younger brother Raul Castro, who is the country's defense minister.

The Cuban leader said he would be "out of power for several weeks" and had relinquished the presidency and the post as the first secretary of the Communist Party to Paul.

Source: Xinhua