Havana, Cuba - Army General Raul Castro, President of the Cuban councils of State and Ministers, highlighted on Sunday in this capital the close friendship that developed between Commanders Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez.

While inaugurating the 13 th Summit of the Bolivarian Alliance of the Americas-Trade Treaty of the Peoples (ALBA-TCP) at Revolution Building, the Cuban head of state recalled that the bonds that sprang up between the two leaders "were based on an identity of outstanding ideas and influenced the region and the liberating processes of the last few decades."

Likewise, he recalled that the mechanism of integration contributed to the strengthening of bonds between the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and Cuba, and reviewed the main achievements of the regional body in political and social aspects.

Raul condemned the U.S. attempts of interference in Venezuela and the destabilization they attempt to achieve in the entire region "to make peoples stray off their path and defeat them."