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Chavez says to lunch with Castro

MONTEVIDEO
Tue Dec 18, 2007 11:38pm EST
Cuban President Fidel Castro listens to a speaker during the May Day parade on Havana's Revolution Square in this May 1, 2005 file photo. Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who has not been seen in public for 16 months, suggested on December 18, 2007 he might give up his formal leadership posts -- the first time he has spoken of his possible retirement since he fell ill. REUTERS/Claudia Daut/Files

MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said he planned to lunch on Wednesday with ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who has not been seen in public for 16 months.

World

Chavez said in a speech on Tuesday that he would meet with Castro in Cuba ahead of a Petrocaribe summit.

"Fidel's waiting for me," Chavez told Uruguayan union members after participating in a Mercosur trade bloc meeting in Montevideo, Uruguay's capital.

Castro, 81, suggested he might give up his formal leadership posts in a letter read on Cuban state television on Monday, in his first remarks alluding to his possible retirement.

Castro handed power over temporarily to his brother, Raul, in July 2006 after undergoing stomach surgery for an undisclosed illness. He is the last of the major Cold War players still alive.

Venezuela's firebrand socialist Chavez is a close Castro ally, and the two men have met several times in recent months.

Petrocaribe is a Venezuelan project aimed at supplying oil and fuel to 14 countries on favorable terms.

(Reporting by Daniela Desantis; Writing by Hilary Burke; Editing by Eric Beech)
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