Vietnamese Welcome Castro

Cuban President Fidel Castro was warmly welcomed by Vietnam’s top leaders Friday at the start of a rare visit to demonstrate communist solidarity.

Several hundred Vietnamese stood outside Hanoi’s Presidential Palace waving Cuban and Vietnamese flags, shouting: “Viva Cuba! Viva Fidel!”

Castro emerged from a limousine and hugged Vietnam’s Communist Party chief Do Muoi, President Le Duc Anh and Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet.

“The whole country awaits the commandante,” Muoi told Castro, who replied that he had a “special feeling” for Vietnam.

“When I set out this morning I felt weak. As I arrive in Vietnam I feel healthier,” Castro said.

Castro’s last visit to Vietnam was in 1973, when he traveled to a zone in the South “liberated” by the communists.