Cuban leader Fidel Castro spoke by telephone with his visiting Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez on Sunday in a live TV show, the first of its kind since July 2006.

 

Cuban leader Fidel Castro (R) greets his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez in Havana October 13, 2007.

 

"There is electricity in the air," Chavez said during Castro's call to his "Alo, Presidente!" program, which means "everyone is electrified to hear Castro."

 

Sunday's television show, broadcast from the eastern Cuban city of Santa Clara, also aired a 17-minute documentary on Saturday's four-hour Castro-Chavez meeting.

 

Castro, 81, appears fragile but alert in the video, in which he discussed the Argentine guerilla leader Ernesto Guevara, better known by his nickname Che, who was a key figure in the 1959 Cuban revolution.

 

"The ideas of the revolution have been sown all across Latin America and today's circumstances are more susceptible than ever for these ideas to sprout for the revolution that Che Guevara spoke of," said Castro.

 

Chavez's program was meant to celebrate Guevara who died some 40 years ago in Bolivia, executed by Bolivian government forces while fighting alongside Bolivian insurgents.

 

During the program, Chavez described Castro as "sowing consciousness and of new times," adding that "we have a commitment to continue sowing, resowing, harvesting and pushing for the salvation of humanity."

 

Chavez said that humanity is faced with a choice between Socialism or barbarity.

 

Cuba's President Fidel Castro (R) reads a book during a meeting with his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez in Havana October 12, 2007. Ailing leader Castro, who has not appeared in public since July last year, met on Saturday for more than four hours with Chavez, Cuban state television said.

 

Castro was last seen in public in late July, when he handed over responsibility to his younger brother Raul Castro on what he described as a temporary basis to have an intestinal operation.

 

Chavez arrived in Cuba on Friday for an official visit.

 

The show was broadcast live from Ernesto Guevara Place, where Che's bones are kept in a gigantic mausoleum. Also with Chavez on the show were Cuban high-ranking officials including Vice President Carlos Lage, Information Minister Ramiro Valdes and Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 15, 2007)