BOLIVIAN President Evo Morales flew to Havana on Wednesday night for yesterday’s celebrations of Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro’s 89th birthday.

Accompanied by his Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca, Mr Morales told reporters at Jose Marti airport: “We come to celebrate our elder brother’s birthday.

“I admire and love him. I learned a lot from him, so I decided to come and accompany him on his birthday.”

The planned celebrations included concerts and tributes to the former president.

Havana’s Rumba Palace played host to a celebration on Wednesday of the birthdays of “El Comandante” and Rene Gonzalez and Fernando Gonzalez, two of the Miami Five anti-terrorist heroes who were unjustly imprisoned in the US for more than a decade.

Mr Morales also praised the role of Pope Francis, who will visit Cuba in late September, in improving relations between Havana and Washington.

The US embassy in Cuba will officially reopen today.