Cuban Leader Fidel Castro Gives Red-Carpet Treatment to Bolivian President-Elect Evo Morales

By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ

The Associated Press

HAVANA - Bolivia's socialist president-elect got a greeting reserved for heads of state when he arrived in communist Cuba on Friday: a red carpet, a military band and a smiling Fidel Castro.

Stepping off the Cuban plane sent to pick him up in Bolivia, Evo Morales said his trip to the Caribbean island was "a gesture of friendship to the Cuban people."

Castro embraced Morales, who has visited the island in the past as one of Latin America's leading protest organizers. The Cuban government has welcomed the election of the nationalist Indian activist as an important triumph over U.S. influence in the region.

"I think that it has moved the world," Castro told reporters of Morales' electoral victory. "It's something extraordinary, something historic."

"The map is changing," said the Cuban leader.