Cuban leader defends Maduro on first foreign visit

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Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel rallied to the defense of embattled ally Nicolas Maduro on his first foreign visit Wednesday, calling on Latin American nations to support a victim of a political and economic war.

The Cuban president, who succeeded Raul Castro on April 19, was received with open arms by Maduro's government on his arrival at Caracas' Maiquetia airport.

"Very happy to be in Venezuela and long live the Bolivarian revolution and also long live President Maduro," Diaz-Canel said.

Diaz-Canel said the main reason for his visit to Venezuela was to show solidarity with Maduro after his May 20 reelection.

He described the elections, boycotted by the main opposition, as an "overwhelming success."

"Maybe that sound rising up from the majority so bothered the US and the right that they are not capable of recognizing legitimacy," he said.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (R) and his wife Cilia Flores (2-R) greet Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and his wife Lis Cuesta, during a ceremony at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas May 30, 2018./VCG Photo

Diaz-Canel called on "the people of the Americas" to show solidarity as it resists a "political, diplomatic, economic and financial war" waged by "imperialism."

Venezuela under Maduro had fallen victim to "the imperialist actions of submission, harassment, isolation and blockades," he said.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro speaks next to Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel during their meeting at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela May 30, 2018. /VCG Photo

- US 'interventionism' -

The 58-year-old Diaz-Canel, who before his address laid a floral wreath at the grave of independence leader Simon Bolivar at Caracas' National Pantheon, called on Venezuela to "repudiate with firmness" Washington's attempts to return to "the period of interventionism."

It is Diaz-Canel's first foreign visit as Cuban president since succeeding Castro on April 19.

Maduro visited Cuba on April 20.

Source(s): AFP