Fidel, Raul: Warm Embrace to Ortega
Cuban Vice President Jose Ramon Machado Ventura expressed a very personal greeting from President Fidel Castro and first Vice President Raul Castro to Sandinista leader and President-elect Daniel Ortega Wednesday.

Machado, heading the official delegation of the island to the presidential transfer in Nicaragua, met with Ortega at the headquarters of the Sandinista National Liberation Front before the inauguration.

The also member of the Political Bureau of the Cuba Communist Party gave Ortega a letter sent by Raul Castro to his host.

The Cuban representative highlighted the happiness and joy of the island s maximum authorities for the return of the Front to power after November s electoral triumph.

Similarly, he promised solidarity and support to the new government as "we are brothers more than friends," in clear allusion to the historic ties between both nations.

Ortega stated he was pleased by the presence of the Cuban delegation. "We expect to share with you these transcendental moments in the fight of the Latin American and the Nicaraguan peoples," he stressed.

Fernando Remirez de Estenoz, International Relations Head of the Cuba Communist Party Central Committee and other officials attended the cordial exchange as did future First Lady Dama Rosario Murillo, Cmdr. Bayardo Arce and other members of the FSLN Executive.