CUBAN President Dr Fidel Castro flew into Hanoi late yesterday to an unprecedented display of communist solidarity from Vietnam's top three leaders.
Do Muoi, General Secretary of the Communist Party, President Le Duc Anh and Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet - all former revolutionaries - stood together to bear-hug Dr Castro for several minutes before leading him up the red carpet into Hanoi's Presidential Palace.
'I am very tired, it was very cold in China and I caught the flu,' Dr Castro told the three soon after arriving from his first 10-day trip to China. 'But on the morning I come to Vietnam, I feel much better.' The rare appearance of the top three together cemented a clear drive in recent days to show the HanoiHavana friendship as Vietnam's warmest, if not its most important.
The shared history of communist struggle and more recent antagonism from Washington clearly struck a chord of brotherhood in Vietnam.
This time Dr Castro comes to learn from Vietnam's economic and social reforms, a path he has just started to take Cuba down to boost a ruined economy.
In customary fatigues Dr Castro arrived from Guangzhou on his ageing Russian Ilyushin-62 jet.
