Ahmadinejad to go to Cuba By Patrick Oppmann, CNN January 11, 2012 -- Updated 0611 GMT (1411 HKT) Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, left, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, center, and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Managua on January 10, 2012. Ahmadinejad previously visited Venezuela and Nicaragua The tour is part of an effort to strengthen diplomatic and economic ties in the region. Ahmadinejad's last stop will be in Ecuador Havana, Cuba (CNN) -- As part of his whirlwind tour of Latin America, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is set to visit Cuba Wednesday. Ahmadinejad previously visited Venezuela and Nicaragua as part of an effort by an increasingly isolated Iran to strengthen diplomatic and economic ties in the region. Congresswoman Illeana Ros-Lehtinen, a Cuban-American who has called for tougher sanctions against the Cuban government, called Ahmadinejad's itinerary a "tour of tyrants." "Rallying dictators against the United States is the central agenda item of Ahmadinejad's trip to the region," Ros-Lehtinen said in a statement. Cuba has been under U.S. economic sanctions for 50 years. In the 21-hour trip to the Caribbean island, the Iranian leader is expected to meet with with Cuban President Raul Castro as well as Fidel Castro and speak at the University of Havana. On Thursday, Ahmadinejad leaves Cuba for his final stop on the trip in Ecuador. Cuba officially recognized Iran shortly after the 1979 Iranian revolution. Then Cuban President Fidel Castro visited Iran in 2001. Cuba also aspires to become a large oil producer and is working with a Spanish company to develop an estimated 5 to 20 billion barrels of oil in the straits of Florida.