In a phone conversation on Saturday with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who was attending the Summit of Friendship with the Peoples in Chile, Cuban President Fidel Castro paid tribute to the Chilean victims of the Augusto Pinochet Fascist Dictatorship and the Nicaraguans killed by the tyranny of Anastasio Somosa.

"Fidel pays tribute to those heroic internationalist fighters and to all Chilean combatants who died fighting the tyranny," said Chavez during the meeting that ran parallel to the 17th Ibero-Latin American Summit of Heads of State and Government, which wound up over the weekend in Santiago de Chile.

Thousands of people, gathered at a local sports facility hosting the Friendship Summit in Santiago, welcomed with an ovation the arrival of presidents Hugo Chavez, of Venezuela; Daniel Ortega, of Nicaragua; Evo Morales, of Bolivia; and Cuban Vice-president Carlos Lage.

Participants waved Cuban and Venezuelan flags and banners representing left-wing Chilean social movements as they shouted slogans in favor of former Chilean President Salvador Allende. In his statement at the Friendship Summit, Carlos Lage conveyed greetings by Cuban President Fidel Castro.

Source: Cuban News Agency