By Frank Jack Daniel
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavezchatted, joked and sang with Cuba's new leader Raul Castro onSunday and promised to continue supporting the country despitethe retirement of his close friend Fidel Castro.
Raul Castro was named president of communist Cuba onSunday, ending his brother Fidel Castro's 49-year rule butkeeping the country on a communist path.
Soon after his acceptance speech in Cuba's NationalAssembly, Raul Castro spoke by phone on socialist Chavez'sweekly live television show. Chavez reaffirmed his commitmentto Cuba and denied speculation that the two men did not get onwell.
"Nothing is going to change," Chavez said during the call."I ratify my commitment to Cuba, the commitment of theVenezuelan people, of the Bolivarian revolution, to you, toFidel, to the Cuban revolution, to the people of Cuba."
Venezuela is Cuba's biggest benefactor and sends theCaribbean nation millions of barrels of favourably priced oileach year. In return, Cuba has sent about 30,000 doctors towork in the OPEC nation.
Critics say the Castros are dictators propped up byChavez's largesse and accuse him of trying to turn Venezuelainto a replica of Cuba.
Chavez and Raul Castro sang Venezuelan cowboy folk songstogether on the call and joked that neither Fidel Castro norlegendary Argentine revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara hadgood singing voices.
Raul laughed about the famously long and fiery discoursesthat are a trademark of his brother and of Chavez, implicitlyrecognizing the similarities and closeness between the two.
"No speech of mine lasts more than an hour," Raul Castrosaid. "That's because Fidel and the president of Venezuela aremore intelligent than me and have more to say, not for anyother reason.
"Fidel is watching you," Raul Castro, said in reference toChavez's TV show. "If he didn't see the first part, it'sbecause he was watching me.
"Fidel is the most faithful follower of all your words,which are not in short supply," he said, before sendingcondolences to the relatives of 46 people who died in aVenezuelan plane crash on Thursday.
Chavez praised the smooth transition of power in Cuba anddenied he did not get on well with the new president.
"An international campaign has already started to makepeople believe there is distance between Raul and I, thatthings are now going to change," he said.
Chavez led a standing ovation to celebrate the naming ofRaul as Cuban president but said ailing Fidel, who he describesa father figure, would continue to be "El Comandante."
Fidel Castro has long seen Chavez as a protege and the twomen frequently appeared together at radical events on thesidelines of presidential conferences in the region until theoctogenarian was forced by illness from the public eye in 2006.
Chavez, 53, visited his friend in the hospital on severaloccasions and was seen in videos of the meetings bringingCastro gifts and holding his hand.
Many observers have said there is not such a naturalfriendship with Raul Castro, 76, but Chavez's stated commitmentto socialism and admiration for Cuba's system means the twonations will stay close at least in the short term.
"It will be impossible for Raul Castro to replicate Fidel'sclose personal relationship with Chavez," said Dan Erikson, aexpert on Cuba at Washington think-tank Inter-AmericanDialogue.
"However in the short term, Cuba is likely to remain highlydependent on Venezuelan oil and this means that Raul will needto stay in Chavez's good graces."
(Reporting by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Jackie Frankand Bill Trott)
