Chavez Visits Castro in Cuba
By ANITA SNOW Associated Press Writer
© 2007 The Associated Press
HAVANA — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez met for six hours behind
closed doors Tuesday with Cuba's Fidel Castro and the close allies
discussed energy issues and a regional trade pact during an emotional
visit, state television reported.
State TV showed Chavez being greeted at the airport by Cuban Vice
President Carlos Lage and Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, but no
images of the Venezuelan president's meeting with the convalescing
80-year-old Castro were immediately released.
A television announcer described the visit as "emotional" and said the
pair discussed efforts to improve their countries' energy programs. They
also talked about the socialist-leaning regional pact they created, the
Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, known as ALBA.
State TV said earlier Tuesday that Chavez would also meet with Castro's
younger brother, Defense Minister Raul Castro, who has been acting
president since his older brother temporarily stepped aside in late July
following emergency intestinal surgery.
"Long live Cuba! Long live Fidel!" Chavez shouted to official media at
Havana's airport before he was whisked away in a black sedan.
Chavez was scheduled to be in historic Old Havana early Wednesday to
inaugurate a statue of South American hero Gen. Francisco de Miranda.
Afterward, Chavez was to visit the nearby San Geronimo College, which
opened in recent years with a focus on historic renovation and art
restoration.
Other details of the visit were not immediately announced.
Chavez's visit came just five days after Bolivian President Evo Morales
made a daylong trip to Havana and spent three hours with Castro, later
saying the Cuban leader looked "very recovered."
Although Castro has not appeared in public in the 10 months since
announcing his illness, he has become more active recently, writing more
than a dozen essays on international affairs.
He has been seen only in still photographs and videotapes released by
the government, including a 50-minute taped interview that appeared on
state TV last week. No images of his visit with Morales or Chavez were
immediately released.
Senior officials have repeatedly said Castro is on the mend, although
the bearded revolutionary recently acknowledged in one of his essays
that his recovery has been delayed because one of his first operations
did not go well.
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