Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage sought to dispel growing speculation about Fidel Castro’s health, saying he does not have stomach cancer and is recuperating well after surgery that prompted him to step aside temporarily.

From his sickbed, Fidel Castro has set the stage for a more collective style of governance in a country long used to a single strongman, selecting six trusted comrades to run key projects while his younger brother Raul acts as president and head of the Communist Party.

Demonstrating he retains firm control over Cuba after fracturing his knee and arm in a fall, President Fidel Castro told of conducting government business by mobile phone during an ambulance ride and later refusing general anaesthesia.

Leaders from Latin America, Spain and Portugal have opened their annual Ibero-American summit in Peru.