http://www.boston.com/dailynews/225/world/Fidel_Castro_celebrates_75th_b:.shtml

Fidel Castro celebrates 75th birthday in Venezuelan jungle

By Alexandra Olson, Associated Press, 8/13/2001 15:21

SANTA ELENA DE UAIREN, Venezuela (AP) Fidel Castro drank champagne and ate cake during a 75th birthday party that lasted until dawn Monday, then traveled deep into the rain forest with Venezuela's president to inaugurate a multimillion-dollar power project for Brazil.

''In all my life, I've never received this kind of tribute,'' said Castro, when President Hugo Chavez, a former paratrooper, presented Castro with the first rifle he was issued as a 17-year-old Venezuelan army cadet.

Backed by a quartet, Chavez sang ''Happy Birthday.'' Castro, who has ruled communist Cuba for 42 years, reciprocated with a few quips about his age.

''In my 50s, I was beginning to learn. In my 60s, I was still learning, and at 75, I'm still learning. I'm still a Pioneer,'' he said, referring to Cuba's Pioneers communist group for schoolchildren.

Castro, who arrived in Venezuela on Saturday, postponed his return to Cuba until late Monday to attend the inauguration in the tiny plains town of Santa Elena de Uairen, 600 miles south of Caracas on the Brazilian border. Also attending was Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso.

Amid tight security, Castro wearing safari-type gear was greeted by about 1,500 people, including indigenous leaders and construction workers in this forested town. Youths played regional music and flags of the three nations decorated the streets.

The three leaders were inaugurating a 400-mile power line seen as key to developing Brazil's northern state of Roraima and Venezuela's Bolivar state.

The $400 million hydroelectric project will deliver 200 megawatts of electricity to indigenous villages in both South American countries and gold mining companies in Venezuela. Brazil is suffering an energy shortage that threatens its economic growth and recently asked citizens to cut consumption.

Castro spent the weekend touring Venezuela's Angel Falls and meeting impoverished indigenous leaders in the remote rain forest who showered Chavez with requests for financial assistance.

''When I think about everything they are asking for, and there are 300 Indian communities ...,'' Castro said, insisting that governments work to eliminate poverty afflicting hundreds of millions throughout Latin America.

In his first foreign trip since fainting during a June 23 speech, Castro couldn't dispel lingering concerns about his health.

He stumbled when reporters mobbed him in Caracas. In the tropical river town of Ciudad Bolivar, he sweated profusely and repeatedly complained about the heat.

Castro claims he is in robust health. His hand-picked successor, brother Raul Castro, insists Cuba won't plunge into political crisis after Fidel Castro is no longer in power.

In Cuba, state television broadcast extensive images of Castro celebrating his birthday with Chavez, but there were no major celebrations.

Chavez is one of Castro's few steadfast allies in a world increasingly committed to free market economies. The United States Venezuela's biggest consumer of oil keeps a wary eye on the relationship.

Since the leftist Chavez's 1988 election, Castro has visited Venezuela three times, forging a close friendship and signing a pact in which Venezuela provides Cuba 53,000 barrels of oil a day in exchange for hundreds of Cuban advisers in health, agriculture, education, sports and other areas.

Castro's visit came amid a spat between Venezuela and the United States. Chavez's government ordered the U.S. military mission to leave offices it had occupied in Caracas' largest army base for 40 years, saying it needs the space.

The U.S. Embassy said it regretted the order ''as it will make it difficult to carry on our long-standing relationship with the Venezuelan government's military.''

-- Anonymous, August 14, 2001