Venezuelan information minister Andres Izarra was even forced to issue an apology to the press after accusing them Tuesday morning of reporting false ''rumors'' of the Castro visit.
Describing the energy summit as ''an historic encounter,'' Castro said he had decided to attend at the last minute, after feeling ``embarrassment that it might seem I wasn't coming because I had too much work.''
He added: ``Everything else is secondary -- for me, Venezuela and the Venezuelans come first, which also means the struggle for my country, the Caribbean [and] the peoples of Latin America.''
The visit is unpopular with anti-Chávez groups, who have accused Cuba of interference in local affairs.
They are particularly incensed at the recent choice of Castro as patron of a class of Venezuelan officer-graduates.
Venezuela, which has the largest oil reserves in the western hemisphere, already provides more than 80,000 barrels a day to Cuba and large quantities to other Caribbean nations under highly advantageous financial terms.
The Chávez aid has helped Cuba continue to recover from its economic collapse following the end of Soviet subsidies in the early 1990s.
Chávez said the two-day summit would ''deepen'' the energy relationship with the Caribbean by setting up an ''energy arc'' that would help protect member nations from the ''squandering'' of resources by rich countries. …………***
An amendment seeking to overturn limits on Cuban-Americans' family travel to Cuba was defeated 211-208 -- the first time such an initiative was beaten back in a congressional vote. A similar amendment, also submitted by Florida Democrat Jim Davis, was approved last year on a 225-174 vote.
Both opponents and supporters of the sanctions credited the turnaround on a determined lobbying drive by Cuban-American lawmakers and the entreaties made by dissidents in the communist-ruled island such as Martha Beatriz Roque, who recently addressed the Congress members on a phone link from Havana.
Two other amendments -- all three were part of a spending bill for the treasury, housing and transportation departments -- were shot down by lopsided margins.
A proposal to ease restrictions on U.S. student travel to Cuba, presented by Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., was defeated 233-187. Last year it was so heavily backed that it passed by a simple voice vote.
And an amendment that would have completely lifted the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba, submitted by Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., was rejected on a 250-169 vote.
Arizona Rep. Jeff Flake, a Republican and always one of the strongest critics of the U.S. restrictions on travel to Cuba, withdrew several amendments after the defeat of the Davis initiative.
Miami Republicans Lincoln and Mario Díaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen hailed the votes as ''historic'' in a joint statement.
''The solid defeat of these amendments sends a definitive message of support for the president's Cuba policy,'' Ros-Lehtinen said. .................***