After nearly six decades, the visit to Caracas by the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, remains alive in the memory of the Venezuelan people.
Fidel Castro arrived on Friday, January 23, 1959, at the Maiquetia airport, where more than 30,000 Venezuelans, including senior leaders of the plot that had expelled Dictator Marcos Perez Jimenez (1952-1958) from the presidential chair one year ago, waited for him.
 
He was surrounded by the almost mystical aureole and popularity that distinguished the Cuban rebels, who accumulated applauses and congratulations in almost every region of the planet where they arrived, in their efforts to spread the creed of freedom and social justice for the Third World.
 
The occasion gave another sign of appreciation, as the delegation accompanied him through the streets of the capital to Plaza Silencio (Square of Silence), where he gave a speech.
 
Why did I come to Venezuela? I came to Venezuela, firstly, due to a sense of gratitude. Secondly, due to an elementary duty of reciprocity for all institutions that so generously invited me to live with Venezuela this glorious day of January 23, he noted in front of the expectant crowd.
 
The memory of the crimes lasted among the Venezuelans, because Perez Jimenezâ�Ö inhumanity reached extremes that seemed to be forgotten since the death of the last autocrat, Juan Vicente Gomez, in 1935, so the people from Caracas received Fidel Castro's words with joy.
 
The Cuban delegation departed on the evening of January 26, after Fidel Castro met with President Romulo Betancourt, who had won the first democratic elections in the country in more than one decade.