January 1, a special day for Latin America

Affirms Fidel on his arrival in Brasilia to take part in the  investiture of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva

JOAQUIN RIVERY TUR AND AHMED VELASQUEZ  —Granma daily special correspondents—

BRASILIA, January 1.— President Fidel Castro arrived at the Brasilia Air Base at 8:30 p.m. yesterday at the head of the Cuban delegation to the investiture of Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva as president of Brazil for a four-year period, which commences today.

The Cuban president was received at the airport by Ambassador Rui Cazaes, head of ceremonies at the Foreign Ministry.

The Cuban delegation comprises Felipe Pérez Roque, minister of foreign affairs; Jorge Lezcano, Cuban ambassador in Brazil, who was waiting at the bottom of the landing steps; José M. Miyar Barrueco, secretary of the Council of State; Carlos Valenciaga, member of the Council of State; and José Arbesú, deputy head of the International Relations Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party.

Arriving on Brazilian soil, Fidel, dressed in khaki fatigues, informed the Cuban press that his left leg felt absolutely fine and that this January 1 would be a historic moment for Brazil.

He added that from now on, that date would not only be an important one for Cuba as it also marks Lula assuming power, thus converting it into a Latin American day.

Before leaving the airport, he signed the Air Base visitors’ book, and then continued on to the Naum Hotel in central Brasilia, where he was received in the lobby with effusive expressions of affection by journalists, employees and guests.

The investiture ceremony starts today at 1:00 p.m. with a salute in the Foreign Ministry to Fernando Henrique Cardoso, the outgoing president.

At 2:30 p.m. the new president, accompanied by Vice President José Alencar will leave from Brasilia Cathedral for the Congress building.

The ceremony of commitment to the Constitution before Congress is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. and an hour and a half later, the Presidential Sash will pass from Cardoso to Lula, and ministers will take possession in the Planalto Palace.

At 6:00 p.m. Lula will travel from the Palace to the Cathedral to salute the people.

Subsequently, it is the turn of the foreign delegations to salute the new president in Alborada Palace, his official residence.

In the last few days before his arrival, people in the streets were constantly asking the Cuban journalists if Fidel was coming, and now the president is once more on Brazilian soil and full of energy.