Above: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (UN Photo/Lou Rouse)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro visited Cuba this weekend for the first time since winning the country’s hotly-contested election earlier this month.

Cuba had been by far the strongest ally of late President Hugo Chavez in the region.

The visit came in the context of the 13th Intergovernmental Commission of Venezuela and Cuba in Havana’s Palace of Conventions, during which Maduro thanked Cuba’s medical personnel for their treatment of Chavez and “unconditional aid” offered to Venezuela by the Cuban people.

Maduro said both nations would “continue to work together and lead a strategic alliance that transcends time.”

Cuban leader Raul Castro said Cuba had an “unwavering will” to continue cooperation with its neighbour in the Caribbean basin.

Following Chavez’s death, former Cuban leader Fidel Castro said Chavez had been “the best friend the Cuban people ever had.”

The two sides also agreed on 51 bilateral projects. although no specifics were released.

Maduro concluded the trip on Sunday.