Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has made a brief surprise visit to Cuba to meet with Raul and Fidel Castro and celebrate with them his victory in last Sunday's constitutional referendum. It was the Venezuelan leader's first trip abroad since winning a referendum on February 15 that removed term limits on his presidency and allowed him to seek reelection.
Chavez has already signalled his intention to run for a third term in office in 2012 in his bid to consolidate his brand of socialism critics compare to Cuba's communism.
Standing arm-in-arm with Chavez on his arrival late Friday, Cuban President Raul Castro raised the Venezuelan leader's fist in victory, declaring "I do this in Fidel's name" - a reference to his brother, a long-time friend of Chavez. Chavez, sporting a red beret and olive suit responded to the crowd's adulation with his own cries of "Viva Fidel! Viva Cuba! Viva Raul!" During his brief stay in Havana, the Venezuelan leaders met with Fidel Castro twice - first one-on-one on Friday night and then again on Saturday, accompanied by Raul Castro. According to a brief communique read in a television broadcast, the two leaders discussed "bountiful relations" between the two countries as well as "the global economic crisis and its consequences for Latin America and the Caribbean." No video or other images of the encounter have been circulated. Chavez flew back to Caracas late Saturday.
"The warm meeting between the two heads of state is a symbol of unity between two brotherly peoples," Cuba's official newspaper Granma commented after Chavez's meeting with the Castro brothers. The visit is the latest in a series of exchanges between the two leftist countries, which have developed closer ties since Chavez took power ten years ago, and which have frequently sparred with the west. Last December, Raul Castro visited Caracas in his first visit abroad since taking over in July 2006 from Fidel, who stepped aside due to medical problems.
Chavez said his first congratulatory message after last Sunday's win, which gave him the power to run for a third term in 2012, came from Fidel Castro. Cuba receives nearly 100,000 barrels a day of Venezuelan oil under easy-to-pay conditions, and Venezuelan experts are working with Cubans on a petrochemical project in the southern city of Cienfuegos. Venezuela's state-owned PDVSA is among firms searching for oil off Cuba's north coast.
According to official figures, bilateral projects since 2006 represent some 3.6 billion dollars, and the two countries plan in 2009 173 joint projects worth more than two billion dollars.
More than 30,000 Cubans, including doctors, teachers and sports trainers work in Venezuela. Fidel Castro, 82, definitively ceded the reins of the Cuban presidency to his brother Raul in February 2008.
In a recent article, Fidel Castro congratulated Chavez on his referendum victory, calling it an event of "unmeasurable importance." Five Latin American heads of state have visited Havana since the beginning of the year. The Cubans have released pictures from Fidel Castro's meetings with Presidents Cristina Kirchner of Argentina and Michelle Bachelet of Chile. The releases are seen as an attempt by the Cubans to quash rumours about Fidel Castro's deteriorating health.