Chavez, Fidel Castro read newspapers together in Havana

Jun 29, 2011, 20:43 GMT

Havana/Caracas - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez discussed media headlines and exchanged anecdotes with historic Cuban leader Fidel Castro, a video of their meeting broadcast Wednesday in Cuba and Venezuela showed.

The meeting took place Tuesday in Havana and calmed two weeks of uncertainty about Chavez's health condition. The Venezuelan leader looked thinner than usual and his hair was shorter, but both men appeared to be in a good mood, dressed in sports clothes, chatting and walking.

Chavez underwent surgery for a pelvic abscess in Cuba on June 10 and has since been recuperating there. Venezuelan Vice President Elias Jaua said the video confirms Chavez's recovery.

'The light of truth beats darkness,' he said with reference to rumours about Chavez's health. '(Chavez) is undergoing recovery.'

He said Venezuelan government activity has not come to a halt and continues to be led by Chavez, who has every right 'to take as much time as he needs' to recover.

'Those of us who love him, which is the majority of the Venezuelan people, support him in that right,' Jaua said.

Still, Chavez's absence presented a few practical problems. Venezuela is to celebrate the bicentennial of its independence on July 5, and the president's return before then was uncertain.

Indeed, the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry postponed a summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States that was set to be held in Venezuela on July 5. No new date has been set.

Jaua described the meeting between Chavez and Castro as 'two giants talking like friends, like the extraordinary human beings that they are.'

Silent excerpts of the 20-minute video had first been aired late Tuesday.

The video was made in a garden and a room which were not identified, but which are presumed to be the place where Chavez is recovering.

Chavez and Castro discussed the Tuesday headlines of Cuban state media, to prove the date of the meeting. Chavez's daughters, Rosa Virginia and Rosines, along with one of his grandchildren, were also present.

On June 18, Cuban media had shown photographs of Chavez with Fidel Castro and with Cuban President Raul Castro.

Chavez had officially travelled to Cuba as the last stage of a tour that had previously taken him to Brazil and Ecuador. During the trip, he had been using a cane due to a recent knee injury.