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Chavez in talks with an active Fidel Castro in Havana
By Carlos Batista
AFP
HAVANA
Petroleumworld.com 06 14 07Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, in Cuba to visit his convalescing ally Fidel Castro, is the latest in a steady stream of international visitors, underscoring that Castro increasingly is on the mend.
Fidel Castro is "cruising ahead full-speed (but) is not ready to get back on the (pitching) mound yet," Chavez said, using baseball terminology to describe the baseball-fanatic Cuban leader.
"He is still warming up, he's got his uniform there right beside him, and he is glancing at it sideways...
"I think the time is coming for him to put back on his (olive drab) military uniform," which Castro has worn for 51 years, Chavez added.
Chavez unveiled a statue in Havana Wednesday of Latin American independence-era hero Francisco de Miranda, state television reported. He arrived in Havava Tuesday for a surprise visit, and it was not announced how long Chavez was to stay.
Joined by acting Cuban leader Raul Castro, 76, who has been at Cuba's helm since Fidel Castro took ill more than 10 months ago, Chavez placed a floral wreath at the statue in Cuba's capital, the report said.
On the idea of a possible return to power by Fidel Castro, Chavez joked to Raul Castro "then you move over to first base, or to second."
Chavez spent six hours talking with Fidel Castro after arriving Tuesday, Cuban media reported. Venezuela is Cuba's staunchest international ally and its support on the energy front is critical to the economic stability of the America's only one-party communist regime.
The two allies met in an atmosphere of "fraternity and solidarity" discussing joint development plans, according to a government statement broadcast on Cuban television.
Castro, who will turn 81 in August, only recently began to seen again in public. Since his July 26 operation, Cuba has been governed by his brother, Defense Minister Raul Castro.
Chavez and Castro, 80, also discussed regional energy plans, the challenge of climate change and other problems, the report said.
Raul Castro, the regime's number two official and defense chief, took the helm of the country last July 31 when Fidel underwent surgery.
Since then Fidel Castro has remained mostly out of sight, recovering from what he has said were several operations, and has yet to say whether he will officially resume his duties as Cuba's president.
It was Chavez's sixth visit to Cuba since Castro took ill.
Castro met on Thursday with leftist Bolivian President Evo Morales, in Cuba on a lightning "working visit."
As Morales was seen off at Jose Marti international airport by Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage, he told reporters he found Castro "well on the road to recovery."
Last weekend, Vietnam Communist Party chief Nong Duc Manh also held an unannounced meeting with Castro at the close of his three-day visit to Cuba.
Castro, during Manh's visit, was seen in his first TV interview since he took ill, and appeared to be looking better, but made no mention of any eventual return to power.
"All I can tell my fellow countrymen is what I've already said, that I'm now doing what I have to do, nothing else. There's no secret. I can't put it more clearly," he said.
Last week, however, Chavez was quoted as telling Fidel Castro, who has been pictured in video and still images in a track suit, "I think it is time for you to put your uniform back on."
AFP 13 1818 GMT 06 07
Copyright© 2007 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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