It is expected that Fidel Castro will accept an invitation to visit the Dominican Republic en route to Lisbon, Portugal to attend the 8th Iberoamerican Summit. Latin American, Spanish and Portuguese statesmen participate in that annual summit. The 9th version of the meeting of chiefs of states will be held in Havana. This would be the first visit of Castro as chief of state to the Dominican Republic. Press reports indicate that it is expected that most of the nations that participate in the summit will have normalized their relations with Cuba in time for the 1999 summit. The Listín Diario government reporter Máximo Manuel Pérez said he expects that the Dominican government will have established full diplomatic relations with Cuba in time for the visit of Castro to Santo Domingo this October.
