At the closing session of the World Meeting in honor of Hugo Chavez’s Bolivarian Thought, held in Caracas, the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Raul Castro, ratified that Cuba and its people will always pay homage to and follow the Venezuelan revolutionary leader, whose struggle he described as paramount to our continent and its history.

Raul highlighted that Chavez marked our countries as we witnessed the aggressions and the economic war to overthrow the Bolivarian process, but also the Venezuelan people’s struggle to defend their conquests and praised Nicolás Maduro’s leadership and capacity to resist and overcome.

“Cuba was and will be alongside the Venezuelans, Maduro, and the civic-military union of the Bolivarian and Chavista people,” he remarked.

Likewise, he pointed out that the Cuban people, who quickly appreciated Chavez’s qualities, charisma, sympathy and ability to get on well with the people and worried about the leader’s condition as soon as they heard about his illness.

Raul recalled that a few days after his decease, Fidel, who foresaw Chavez’s political future when many did not even know him yet, wrote in one of his Reflections, published in the Cuban press on March 5, “The best friend the Cuban people had throughout its history passed away”.

“Chavez had the same revolutionary impetus that drives the Cuban Revolution, Fidel’s idea that victory exists as long as we fight for it,” he held. “He put into practice every day the ‘Yes we can’ concept even when faced with huge challenges.