A beaming Castro greeted Morales at the Havana airport with a warm embrace. The two men have known each other for years. "It appears the map is changing, but one has to be reflective," Castro told reporters before the two men were whisked away in a black limousine.
"This is a gesture of friendship with the Cuban people," Morales said.
Morales, an avowed socialist, chose Communist Cuba for his first trip abroad since his overwhelming victory at the polls two weeks ago.
"The Cubans are going to offer massive medical and educational assistance and whatever else they can, like they did with Venezuela when Hugo Chavez became president," a Latin American diplomat said. A government statement hailed Morales' arrival on the eve of the 47th anniversary of the Cuban revolution that brought Castro to power on January 1, 1959.
"The presence of comrade Morales in Cuba fills our people with satisfaction and is an important stimulus to strengthen friendship and co-operation between the Cuban government and the future Bolivian government," the statement said.
Much to the chagrin of the United States, a still feisty Castro at 79 is less and less isolated in Latin America and the Caribbean as left and center-left parties come to power and strengthen their political and economic ties with Cuba.
Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina are all governed by progressive-minded independents, Venezuela's Chavez has become Castro's main ally and all Caribbean governments have restored diplomatic and economic ties with Havana.
Morales is considered closer to Castro and Chavez than any other leaders in the region, local experts said. Like the other two, he is a fierce critic of the Bush administration and supporter of Latin American unity and integration.
Two Bolivian presidents in the last three years were forced out by huge street protests that opposed free-market economic policies and demanded Indian rights and nationalisation of natural gas resources, the second largest in Latin America.