Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez (L) visits Fidel Castro on the latter's 80th birthday. AFP PHOTO

Castro has long acted as a mentor to Chavez and the Venezuelan president promised he would soon make one of his frequent visits to the Communist island.

"He is walking about and goes out at night to visit the countryside, villages and towns," Chavez told cocoa workers east of Caracas.

Latin American media simmered with speculation that Castro died at the weekend, conjecturing Chavez had canceled appointments last Saturday to say farewell.

After 47 years in office, Castro temporarily ceded power in July to his brother Raul owing to health problems that required abdominal surgery.