Uruguay President Visits Fidel Castro

HAVANA TIMES –- The President of Uruguay, José Mujica, visited Cuban leader Fidel Castro in Havana on Wednesday reported today the official “Granma” newspaper.

Mujica, who arrived for a five-day visit to Cuba through Sunday, met with the former Cuban president in a visit filled with symbolism. It was “an emotional meeting,” said the Communist Party newspaper.

The Uruguayan president, 78, was accompanied by his wife, Uruguayan Sen. Lucia Topolansky. Mujica and Castro “evoked moments of the revolutionary struggle in both countries,” said “Granma”.

The Uruguayan was a guerrilla fighter in his youth. Mujica campaigned clandestinely in the “Uruguayan Tupamaros, one of the guerrilla movements that emerged across the continent in the 60s inspired by the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959.

Mujica, elected president in 2009, has always shown sympathy for Cuba, unlike many former supporters who have distanced themselves from the island’s socialist regime.

The Uruguayan president also met with his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro.

Mujica arrived Wednesday in Havana on his first official visit since he took office in 2010. Today he is scheduled to travel to Santiago de Cuba for the 60th anniversary on Friday of the failed assault on the Moncada garrison, celebrated in Cuba as the “day of national rebellion”.

Mujica was the first arrival of several presidents planning to participate in the commemoration.
On Thursday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is due in Havana. Also expected are the leaders of Ecuador, Nicaragua and Bolivia, as well as four Caribbean heads of state.