Cuba and Venezuela signed cooperation accords on Saturday for 51 projects as Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, on his first trip to the island since his election, pledged to maintain the close alliance forged by his late predecessor, Hugo Chavez.
Maduro said they would jointly spend US$2 billion this year on “social development,” but it was not clear if he was discussing the 51 projects, few details of which were disclosed, or other works.
His visit appeared aimed in part at allaying Cuban worries about post-Chavez relations with the oil-rich South American nation that is Cuba’s biggest ally and benefactor.
Venezuelan oil and money help keep the communist-ruled island’s troubled economy afloat and the governments have about 30 joint ventures, most of them in Venezuela.
“We have come to Havana, Cuba, to say to the people of Venezuela, the people of Cuba, all the people of Latin America ... are going to continue working together, we came to ratify a strategic, historic alliance that transcends time, that is more a brotherhood than an alliance,” Maduro said at a signing ceremony in Havana’s main convention centre.
Maduro, a former bus driver and union leader, told reporters he met with former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, 86, for five hours on Saturday, “remembering Comandante Chavez, remembering that those two built this relationship.”
