Cuba's leader, Fidel Castro, is recovering well from his July operation and will soon return to public life, Vice President Carlos Lage said on Tuesday.

Castro, 80, is following doctor's orders in a disciplined manner, he said. That is why Castro was absent from the 50th anniversary parade by the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces.

Cuba normally holds a military parade for Castro on Aug. 13, his birthday, but this year the nation suspended August celebrations because of the leader's illness, following an operation for intestinal bleeding.

Ahead of the July 31 operation, Fidel Castro handed power to his brother Raul for the first time since taking power in the country's 1959 revolution. He has been president of the country's council of ministers since 1976. He was last seen in public in a video published in October.

State newspaper Granma on Tuesday published a message from Fidel congratulating Hugo Chavez for his Dec. 3 reelection as president of Venezuela.

Source: Xinhua