| CUBA
NEWS
The
Miami Herald
Castro visits Chávez; away 1st
time since '03
Cuban President Fidel
Castro made a surprise visit Tuesday to
his ally, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.
By Nancy San Martin and
Phil Gunson, nsanmartin@herald.com. Posted
on Wed, Jun. 29, 2005.
Cuban leader Fidel Castro made a surprise
visit to Venezuela Tuesday for what he described
on arrival as an ''historic encounter''
with his top ally, President Hugo Chávez,
and Caribbean leaders in his fourth trip
to Venezuela since 1999 and his first outside
of Cuba since late 2003.
Venezuelan state television showed Castro
arriving at the Caribbean port of Puerto
La Cruz aboard a Cubana de Aviación
jetliner, wearing his traditional olive
green fatigues, as the leftist-populist
Chávez waited for him.
Although rumors of a Castro visit to Venezuela
had been making the rounds in Caracas for
several days, Chávez earlier had
said that Cuba would be represented by Vice
President Carlos Lage at the launch today
of Petrocaribe, Chávez proposal for
a regional energy agreement.
Venezuelan information minister Andres
Izarra was even forced to issue an apology
to the press after accusing them Tuesday
morning of reporting false ''rumors'' of
the Castro visit.
Describing the energy summit as ''an historic
encounter,'' Castro said he had decided
to attend at the last minute, after feeling
"embarrassment that it might seem I
wasn't coming because I had too much work.''
He added: "Everything else is secondary
-- for me, Venezuela and the Venezuelans
come first, which also means the struggle
for my country, the Caribbean [and] the
peoples of Latin America.''
The visit is unpopular with anti-Chávez
groups, who have accused Cuba of interference
in local affairs.
They are particularly incensed at the recent
choice of Castro as patron of a class of
Venezuelan officer-graduates.
Venezuela, which has the largest oil reserves
in the western hemisphere, already provides
more than 80,000 barrels a day to Cuba and
large quantities to other Caribbean nations
under highly advantageous financial terms.
The Chávez aid has helped Cuba continue
to recover from its economic collapse following
the end of Soviet subsidies in the early
1990s.
Chávez said the two-day summit would
''deepen'' the energy relationship with
the Caribbean by setting up an ''energy
arc'' that would help protect member nations
from the ''squandering'' of resources by
rich countries.
Chávez also is working to create
Petrosur and Petroamerica, other regional
or continental alliances designed to ensure
supplies at preferential prices or terms.
Expected to attend the Petrocaribe launch
are delegations from the Dominican Republic,
Jamaica, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados,
the Bahamas, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts-Nevis,
Saint Lucia, St. Vincente and the Grenadines,
Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.
It was Castro's fourth visit to Venezuela
since Chávez, who considers Castro
his political mentor, was first democratically
elected in 1998.
20 Miami-bound Cuban migrants detained
near Cancun
Associated Press. Posted
on Wed, Jun. 29, 2005.
MEXICO CITY - (AP) -- Police Wednesday
near the Caribbean resort of Cancun detained
20 Cuban migrants and three suspected migrant
smugglers who they say were headed to Miami.
The Cubans, who apparently paid $5,000
apiece for the trip, were caught aboard
a boat near Playa de Carmen, about 36 miles
south of Cancun.
The three alleged smugglers were identified
by federal prosecutors as a Mexican man,
a Dominican and a Cuban.
The Cubans were taken to a Cancun detention
center, where they will be interviewed by
immigration agents. Cuban migrants are sometimes
allowed to stay in Mexico, and some later
make their way by land to the U.S. border.
Police said the Cubans were headed to Miami.
Two vehicles and several containers of
gasoline were seized in the raid.
|
