Latin American and Spanish governments on Tuesday wished Cuban leader Fidel Castro a speedy recovery after doctors operated on him due to persistent intestinal bleeding.

Castro, who turns 80 in less than two weeks, received good wishes from Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, Bolivia's Evo Morales, Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and Guatemala's Oscar Berger.

Castro said on Monday that he underwent surgery and had temporarily handed over his power to his younger brother Raul Castro, who is the nation's defense minister.

"We wish with all our heart for Fidel Castro to recover as soon as possible so he may be with us forever," said Chavez, who has often said that he considers Castro as a friend.

Chavez, who was currently on an official visit to Hanoi, Vietnam, told press that he considered the news of Castro's ill-health to be worrying, adding that he had spoken to Castro by telephone from Vietnam.

"We are sure that with the strength he has shown throughout his exemplary career, Castro will overcome this new challenge to continue in the trenches of the anti-imperial struggle," Bolivian President Morales said in an open letter addressed to Castro.

He noted that he had invited Castro to take part in the Aug. 6 opening ceremony for that nation's Constituent Assembly in Bolivia.

"In the name of friendship and the struggle that united us -- that for development and equality between peoples -- I wish to send you (Castro) our prayers for quick recovery," said Brazil's Lula.

"I am expressing here my personal sentiments, that of my government and that of your many friends in Brazil," he said.

"We are concerned about Castro's health and we are praying for his swift recovery," Berger told press in Guatemala City, the nation's capital. He thanked Cuba for sending the country health and education materials.

The Mexican presidential office said the president wished Castro a rapid recovery. The message also conveyed support for improved relations between the two nations, which fell to a low ebb in 2004.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero wished Castro a swift recovery.

Ecuador expressed the same wishes for Castro, who it described as "a presidential friend" of the nation, of Latin America and of third world nations.

The 1992 Nobel-Peace-Prize winner, Guatemala's Rigoberta Mechu, expressed her good wishes for Castro, adding that Cuba was having a difficult time at present.

El Salvador's opposition Farabundo Marti Liberation Front, said that it "sends a letter of solidarity to the Cuban people and its wishes for the swift recuperation of comrade Fidel Castro."

Source: Xinhua