Caracas, Venezuela.- Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro today celebrated the 60th anniversary of the first visit of Cuban leader Fidel Castro (1926-2016) after the revolutionary triumph of January 1959.

‘Sixty years ago, Commander Fidel Castro visited Venezuela for the first time. In a massive rally and with an emotional welcome, he expressed his gratitude for our Homeland and for the support of the Cuban Revolution. Fidel will always live in our struggles,’ the president wrote on the social network Twitter.

Fidel Castro arrived on Venezuelan soil on January 23, 1959, in the midst of the celebrations for the first anniversary of the overthrow of the dictatorship of Marcos Perez Jimenez.

The revolutionary leader was received at the Maiquetía airport by thousands of people, among them Patricio Ojeda, president of the Patriotic Board that forged the overthrow of the Pérez Jiménez regime, among other personalities.

During his stay in the South American nation, the visitor spoke to the Venezuelans in the Plaza del Silencio and made speeches in the main hall of the Central University of Venezuela and in the Congress of the Republic, in addition to meeting with the president Rómulo Betancourt at that time.

‘Because for me it was more exciting to enter Caracas than to enter Havana,’ said the Cuban leader on January 23, 1959, in his words to the people.

The National Library hosts this Tuesday the exhibition Fidel in Caracas: 60 years, dedicated to commemorate the historic visit of the Commander in Chief of the Cuban Revolution to the Venezuelan capital.