Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez arrived in Cuba on an unannounced visit on Wednesday and held talks with revolutionary leader Fidel Castro and his brother and current President Raul Castro, according to Cuban state media.
During Chavez's five-hour-long private meeting with Fidel Castro, the two leaders reportedly discussed Castro's earlier warnings about the serious risks of an impending nuclear war in the Middle East.
After the meeting, Chavez expressed satisfaction at Castro's "magnificent" health, and acknowledged the Cuban revolutionary's role in "achieving a universal awareness to prevent a conflagration of incalculable consequences to mankind."
Chavez left the island nation on Wednesday afternoon, after holding talks with current Cuban President Raul Castro on improving bilateral relations between the two countries. He was seen off at the airport by the Cuban President.
Chavez has been a close ally of Fidel Castro and had visited him several times during the four years he kept away from public view after a stomach surgery in 2006.
Fidel Castro ceded power to his brother Raul in February 2008, following an emergency stomach surgery in July 2006, and has made very few public appearances since then. However, his essays on Cuban and international politics appear frequently on government websites and state-run news agencies.
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