HAVANA TIMES, April 9 — Cuban President Raul Castro received his Venezuelan counterpart, Hugo Chavez, Saturday night at the Jose Marti International Airport in Havana, reported the Juventud Rebelde newspaper.

Before leaving Venezuela, Chavez had said in a message broadcast to the nation on radio and television: “I have great faith in Christ our Lord, who will repeat the miracle so that I will stay alive, to defeat this disease that came from natural causes.”

Chavez returned to the island to continue with the third phase of his medical treatment through radiation therapy.

Before coming to the island, the South American leader increased the minimum wage in Venezuela by 32.25 per cent, with barely six months before the upcoming presidential elections in that country, Europa Press reported.