HAVANA, Sept 10: Leaders of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) of 116 developing nations will meet in Cuba this week for a summit that will gather some of the United States’ fiercest critics just 145km offshore.

The presidents of Iran and Syria, countries the Bush administration sees as members of an ‘axis of evil,’ are expected in Havana, as well as a high-ranking delegation from North Korea.

Washington’s longest-lasting ideological foe, Cuban leader Fidel Castro, is not believed to be well enough to chair the Sept 11-16 summit.

Mr Castro, 80, said last week he was on the road to recovery and would be able to receive some visiting leaders in private.

His main leftist ally, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, will likely fill the oratorical void and take up Mr Castro’s baton in the role of assailing western capitalism.—Reuters