Cuba's vice president warmly welcomed in N.Y.

[Judi Lynn]

Cuba's vice president warmly welcomed in N.Y.

Vice President José Ramón Machado Ventura, the highest ranking Cuban official to visit New York since Fidel Castro's trip to the city eight years ago, was greeted by ovations.
Posted on Tue, Sep. 23, 2008

BY FRANCES ROBLES
[e-mail]

NEW YORK -- The No. 2 man in Cuba was welcomed in Upper Manhattan with three standing ovations Monday, where a cheering crowd praised Cuban Vice President José Ramón Machado Ventura before he even uttered a word.

Machado, 77, first vice president of Cuba's council of state, appeared at a Harlem church Monday, the first Cuban delegation to visit the United States since Fidel Castro permanently turned over power to his brother seven months ago.

He's the highest ranking official to visit here since Castro's last trip to New York eight years ago.

Before an adoring crowd of anti-embargo activists, Machado denounced U.S. policy in Latin America, saying it's no longer enough for people like Bolivia's Evo Morales and Venezuela's Hugo Chávez to have been elected democratically.

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http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/697462.html