Fidel Castro says meeting with Chavez ‘great honour’

HAVANA: Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro said he felt it “a great honor” for him to meet Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in Havana on Sunday.

“The meeting with Venezuelan President will be a brief one ... It will be a great honor for me,” Castro wrote Saturday in his “Reflections” column, which was published on Sunday by the Juventud Rebelde newspaper. In the article titled “The Truth and the False,” Castro defined Chavez as “an indefatigable preacher of the most advanced ideas of his era in Venezuela,” confronting “the huge media instruments in the hands of the Yankee oligarchy, who try to deceive and confuse the people.”

Castro said that Venezuela was the first one to offer Cuba financial and material aid after hurricanes Gustav and Ike ravaged the country.

Castro also said that almost 40,000 Cubans now work in Venezuela, which he said was a win-win situation for both countries. According to media reports, Chavez will stop for a brief visit to Cuba on his week-long tour to China, Russia, Belarus, France and Portugal.

Enditem Monday, Xinhua