Underscoring the tight relations between the hemisphere’s two most leftist and anti-American governments, Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez announced commercial deals worth $412 million Friday during the Venezuelan president’s visit to Havana.

But independent experts said the only reason Castro can afford to promise to buy the $412 million worth of goods from Venezuela was that Caracas is essentially paying for them with its massive subsidies to Havana – estimated at $1.6 billion by a recent study by the University of Miami’s Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies.

Knight Ridder Newspapers

With Castro at his side, Chavez also used the Havana visit to bash the Bush administration, saying Americans are “oppressed” and that he would not visit Washington “until the people of the United States liberate that nation” – apparently until President Bush leaves office, The Associated Press reported from Havana.

The Venezuelan president also criticized Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s swing through Latin America this week, calling her an “imperial lady” who is trying to divide and conquer the hemisphere’s developing nations.

In contrast, Castro seemed almost restrained as he accompanied Chavez, these days his closest political ally and ruler of an oil-rich nation that appears to be replacing at least part of the $4 billion to $6 billion a year in subsidies from the Soviet Union that Cuba lost in 1991.

Chavez’s three-day visit to Havana came as the Cuban government hosted a trade fair designed to promote the Venezuelan’s proposed Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas as an alternative to the U.S.-backed Free Trade Area of the Americas.

Chavez also used the visit to open branch offices in Havana of his country’s state-owned oil company, known as PDVSA, and a state-controlled bank, the Banco Industrial de Venezuela.

PDVSA announced Thursday it would join oil exploration efforts off Cuba’s coast.

Future oil finds could prove profitable for an island that depends heavily on imported crude. Venezuela is the world’s fifth largest oil exporter and a top supplier to the United States.

PDVSA also announced oil shipments to Cuba, usually reported at 53,000 barrels a day, have hit up to 90,000 barrels on some days.

Havana has been reciprocating by sending Venezuela more than 13,000 Cuban doctors to run free health clinics in some of Venezuela’s poorest neighborhoods, as well as an estimated 7,000 teachers and other education specialists, sports coaches and intelligence and economic advisors.

Under one of the new accords signed earlier this week, Cuba agreed to send another 17,000 doctors to Venezuela by the end of the year and help Caracas train 40,000 new doctors and set up hundreds of free healthcare centers.