Fidel Castro made an appearance of sorts on the sidelines of the Nonaligned Movement summit when state television showed photos of him chatting with a friend from Argentina, raising expectations he'll meet with visiting heads of state before week's end. Castro was almost certain to meet with his close friend Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who initially was scheduled to arrive in Havana on Wednesday morning but whose whereabouts were still unknown by the evening. Chavez has already met with Castro three times since the 80-year-old Cuban leader announced on July 31 that he had undergone intestinal surgery and was temporarily ceding power to his 75-year-old brother, Defense Minister Raul Castro. By Wednesday evening, neither Venezuelan or Cuban authorities knew where Chavez was, raising the possibility that Chavez arrived privately without notifying the news media _ something he has done often in the past, the Associated Press reported. Another key Castro ally, Bolivian President Evo Morales arrived before dawn hours Thursday. State television showed him being met at the airport by Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage. Taking on his brother's role as host, Raul Castro met Wednesday with Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and held separate meetings with presidents Nguyen Minh Triet of Vietnam and Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria. Also on the sidelines, the Group of 15 developing nations was convening on Thursday. Initially set up to foster cooperation with international groups such as the World Trade Organization, the G-15 has since grown to include 19 members: Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Nigeria, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Venezuela and Zimbabwe. One country that won't take part is the United States, which declined an invitation to attend as an observer. A press officer at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana said they wouldn't comment on any matters discussed at the summit. Speaking to foreign ministers who arrived in advance of their nations' top leaders, Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage exhorted the more than 100 members of the Nonaligned Movement to use peace and mutual cooperation to achieve their goals. «Amid wars and threats of more wars, the world in which we live is each day more unjust and unequal,» Lage said. «The end of the East-West confrontation was not the beginning of the peace that many of us dreamed of.» «The real history has been that of a growing dominance of a nation that is unscrupulously exercising economic and political pressures,» he continued. Cuba takes over the group's three-year chairmanship from Malaysia on Friday, is already trying to increase its prestige as a voice for the developing world. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will attend as an observer, and was expected to meet personally with Fidel Castro. Many of the global leaders will continue on to the U.N. session in New York, and some plan to meet Bush in Washington. Among other well-known leaders attending are Presidents Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
