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GV Cuban President Fidel Castro at reception presenting Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos with medal (3 shots)
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SV dos Santos speaking as Castro looks on and people applaud (4 shots)
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SV Castro and dos Santos congratulate each other
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SV Guard of honour and Cuban flag (2 shots)
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SV dos Santos attending wreath laying ceremony (4 shots)
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Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: INTRODUCTION: In Cuba, President Fidel Castro and Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos have been holding formal talks on the occasion of an official visit by the Angolan leader. Mr. dos Santos arrived in Havana on Monday (17 March) for his first official visit since succeeding President Agostinho Neto who died last September.

SYNOPSIS: President Fidel Castro gave the Angolan leader as warm welcome and presented him with the order of Jose Marti for his service to internationalist solidarity in the struggle against imperialism. The 38-year old Angolan President is one of the generation of young people who left colonial Angola to join the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola and acquire the skills to fight colonialism and run their country. He joined the liberation movement in 1961, the tear armed struggle was launched, and quickly rose to become a youth leader in Leopoldville.

Western observers in Havana see Mr. dos Santos's visit as reaffirmation of the close ties between the two Marxist governments. Cuba has sent thousands of troops and technicians to buttress the angolan government since it came to power in 1975, as well as a large number of teachers, doctors and advisers.

On Tuesday (18 March) Mr. dos Santos paid his respects to the role of the Cuban soldier in a wreath-laying ceremony. Many Cubans were reported to have been killed in 1977 and 1978 while helping the Angolan Government to suppress an internal uprising. Since becoming president, Mr. dos Santos has reaffirmed Angola's commitment to nonalignment, but also stressed his country's commitment to moral and material support for African liberation movements.