On the 71st anniversary of Hugo Chávez’s birth, Cuban officials today honoured his friendship with Cuba and his legacy as a champion of Latin American integration.

Roberto Morales Ojeda, Secretary of Organization of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee (PCC), marked the occasion on X (formerly Twitter), reaffirming the enduring fraternal bonds between Chávez and Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro.

«We remember him with pride for having had in him Cuba’s greatest friend,» Morales wrote, echoing Fidel Castro’s historic description of the late Venezuelan president.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla noted on social media that Chávez’s Bolivarian vision transformed Venezuela. «Together with Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro, he wrote a history of solidarity and brotherhood that illuminated Our America,» the Foreign Minister added.

Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías was born on 28 July 1954 in Sabaneta, Barinas state, Venezuela. After winning the December 1998 presidential elections, he took office in February 1999 and initiated constitutional reforms that established previously denied freedoms and rights for Venezuela’s majority population.

The revolutionary leader passed away on 5 March 2013 at age 59 at Caracas’ Dr. Carlos Arvelo Military Hospital after battling cancer.