HAVANA, Jumada II 10, 1437, March 19, 2016, SPA -- Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro flew to Cuba on Friday for a day of high-level meetings and ceremonies that appeared designed to send a message of socialist solidarity two days before Barack Obama becomes the first U.S. president to visit the island in nearly 90 years, according to AP. Maduro was accompanied by his ministers of foreign affairs, agriculture, health, petroleum and mining and communications. Communications Minister Luis Jose Marcano told Venezuelan state television that the two governments would agree on new cooperation in pharmaceutical production, urban agriculture, industrial development and tourism. --SPA 00:30 LOCAL TIME 21:30 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w