- REUTERS
Bolivian President-elect Evo Morales (right) greets Bolivian students as Cuban President Fidel Castro watches at Havana's Jose Marti airport yesterday. This is Morales' first trip outside Bolivia since winning the Bolivian presidential elections. Morales will be sworn in on January 22, 2006.HAVANA (AP):
BOLIVIAN PRESIDENT-ELECT Evo Morales got a greeting reserved for heads of state when he arrived in communist Cuba yesterday: a red carpet, a military band and a smiling Fidel Castro.
Stepping off the Cuban plane sent to pick him up in Bolivia, Morales said his pre-inaugural trip to the Caribbean island was "a gesture of friendship to the Cuban people."
WELCOMED THE ELECTION
Castro, dressed in his typical olive green uniform, hugged Morales, who has visited the island in the past as one of Latin America's leading protest organisers. The Cuban government has welcomed the election of the nationalist Indian activist as an important triumph over U.S. influence in the region.
"I think that it has moved the world," Castro told reporters of Morales' electoral victory. "It's something extraordinary, something historic."
"The map is changing," said the Cuban leader, clearly delighted at Morales' visit.
