Cuba's President Hails Venezuela's National Constituent Assembly

Cuba's President Raul Castro has congratulated Venezuelans on behalf of the Cuban people for the victory in electing and establishing a National Constituent Assembly. In a letter to his Venezuelan peer, Nicolas Maduro, the Cuban Head of State stressed that ''with profound revolutionary joy I learnt about the outcome of the elections and the establishment of the National Constituent Assembly.''

'Beyond any doubt, this political success is a valuable lesson that turns Venezuela into a meaningful symbol for our continent, as Fidel (Castro) said with his crystal clear vision,' Raul Castro wrote.

'The people spoke loud and clear that they remain true to the legacy of Liberator Simon Bolivar and President Hugo Chavez Frias,' the President added.

Experience shows that any act of terror raises the moral of the people, any aggression makes them stronger, any blow strengthens unity, he continued.

Surely, days of hard fight, international harassment, blockade, shortages are ahead, 'but they will be days of creation and work for the revolutionaries and all the Venezuelan people,' underlined Raul Castro in his letter read at National Prime Time News Hour last night.

The Cuban leader reiterated that Venezuela, as it has been up to now, will not be along, and can count with the Cuban people on the first line of militant and committed solidarity with its cause.