It was his first known appearance outside his home since Cuba in December agreed to normalize relations with the United States, Castro's longtime adversary.

Official media showed images of a seated Castro shaking hands with the visiting Venezuelans through the window of his vehicle, wearing a baseball cap and a windbreaker.

There was no explanation why five days passed before the encounter was reported in Cuba.

He met at a school with 33 Venezuelans, who were on a solidarity mission to Cuba, for about 90 minutes. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, oil-rich Venezuela has become Communist Cuba's closest ally and chief benefactor.

Castro impressed the Venezuelans with a firm, long handshake and a lucid mind, the newspaper Juventud Rebelde reported in a writer's first-person account.