Hugo Chavez Celebrates Cooperation with Cuba

Havana, Nov 8. – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will attend a celebration on Monday in the Cuban capital for the 10th anniversary of the Integral Cooperation Agreement between Cuba and Venezuela.

The agreement was signed by Chavez and the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, on October 30, 2000.

In an interview broadcast live on Cuban and Venezuelan television on Sunday, Chavez stated he would meet with Cuban President Raul Castro, accompanied by his minister of energy and oil, Rafael Ramirez, and other cabinet members for a thorough review of the agreement.

During his TV appearance, the South American president termed as absolutely complementary, generous and humanist the integration mechanism between Cuba and Venezuela.

Both countries have used this link to achieve a common objective of "giving people as much happiness as possible, the greatest amount of social security and political stability," Chavez stated.

"We have competed in generosity, which is good between socialists and revolutionaries. We have felt a responsibility as revolutionaries, and not only with Cuba, because we have offered those agreements to all Central American and Caribbean peoples," Chavez said.

Cuba has provided Venezuela, free of charge, with the services of health experts and technicians in distant places where that staff is unavailable, Chavez reaffirmed.

"The first accord to be fulfilled was the most wonderful one: Cuba began bringing (to the island), free of charge, thousands and thousands of Venezuelan patients with different ailments and that is still in force," the president said.

Today's meeting will broadcast live by Cubavision and Cubavision Internacional television, and by the radio stations Radio Habana Cuba and Radio Rebelde, beginning at 18:00 local time. The event will be recorded and broadcast later by the Canal Educativo television channel.(Prensa Latina)