CARACAS (AP) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Friday said his close friend and ally Fidel Castro has "almost totally recovered" from his illness and has resumed many of his duties as Cuba's leader.

Speaking at a televised news conference, Chavez said the 80-year-old Cuban leader's marked improvement was clear. "Almost totally recovered is the very reliable information that I keep receiving," Chavez said. "The reports that I have and that keep arriving speak of — and not only the reports but his own notes, his voice on the telephone ... a doctor would say real recovery."

Chavez has regularly offered updates on Castro's health in the more than eight months since the Cuban leader underwent emergency intestinal surgery and ceded his leadership responsibilities to his brother, Raul.

"Fidel has reassumed a good part of his duties, not formally, but I can attest to the fact that he has been very on top of, for example, energy issues," Chavez said, adding that he could not predict when Castro would fully recover.

Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Roque, traveling in Vietnam, said Castro was getting stronger every day.

"President Fidel Castro is recovering very well," Roque told reporters after an hour-long meeting with his Vietnamese counterpart, Pham Gia Khiem.

Roque said Castro was back to his pre-surgery weight, did regular rehabilitation exercises and had resumed some of his leadership responsibilities.

"He receives reports about the country's situation and is directly involved in managing some important issues," Roque said. -----------Chavez: Detente with U.S. impossible

Chavez, threatening to cut off oil shipments to the U.S. if its government supports any efforts to oust him, said that reconciliation with Washington was impossible.

"There is no possibility of understanding for our revolution with the government of the United States, with U.S. imperialism," Chavez said during a news conference to mark the fifth anniversary of his return to power two days after the coup.

Chavez also said that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were "a gift for (President) Bush" because they enabled him to wage war. He did say "coexistence" was possible, but warned: "If there were another aggression against us, there wouldn't be another drop of oil for the United States ... We're prepared for it."

Venezuela was the fourth-largest supplier of crude oil to the United States last year despite the antagonism between the former paratroop commander and the Bush administration.

Chavez alleged that Pedro Carmona, who briefly replaced him during the 2002 coup, tried to have him killed in a faked accident. "There are witnesses that say Pedro Carmona Estanga issued an order from the presidential palace to kill me ... but to make it look like an accident, and he had just received a call from Washington," Chavez said at the news conference. "The order to get rid of me came from Washington." The U.S. government "wants to have the best relations possible with the Venezuelan government," said U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield, who was attending a conference on freedom of speech. "We aren't responsible for all the evils, all the problems in the world. If it were so, 300 million U.S. citizens would never have time to sleep and rest with so many plots."