Maduro's reelection victory for LatAm: Cuban president

CARACAS, May 30 (Xinhua) -- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's reelection was a "strategic victory" for all Latin America, visiting Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on Wednesday.

Maduro's reelection to a second term (2019-2025) signals the people's support for the Bolivarian movement and political party founded by the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, said Diaz-Canel.

"The decisive victory of 'chavismo' in the May 20 presidential elections constitutes a strategic victory for the Bolivarian Revolution and also for our Americas," Diaz-Canel said in a speech to Venezuela's National Constituent Assembly (ANC).

The Cuban president also called for continued resistance against Washington's attempts to interfere with the internal affairs of Latin America's governments.

"We must firmly reject the U.S. government's attempts to revive the old and aggressive Monroe Doctrine, which aims to reinstate interventionism in the region," he said.

Cuba owes "a debt of gratitude" to Venezuela, he added, acknowledging the South American country's political and economic support for the Caribbean island.

"Now Venezuela needs the support of the countries of the Americas in their resistance against the political, diplomatic, economic and financial warfare that it is a victim of," said Diaz-Canel.

In the wake of Maduro's reelection, Washington has stepped up economic and financial sanctions against Venezuela.

Diaz-Canel called for greater Latin American integration to bolster regional peace and development, through such blocs as the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).

The trip marks Diaz-Canel's first official visit abroad as Cuba's president. He was accompanied by his wife, and Cuban Foreign Affairs Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla. Enditem