CUBA-FIDEL/BIRTHDAY Cubans celebrate Fidel Castro's 89th birthday during landmark week

Record ID: 144162

  • Title: CUBA-FIDEL/BIRTHDAY Cubans celebrate Fidel Castro's 89th birthday during landmark week
  • Date: 13th August 2015
  • Summary: HAVANA, CUBA (AUGUST 12, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MUSICAL CELEBRATIONS KICKING OFF 89TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION FOR FORMER CUBAN LEADER FIDEL CASTRO ON AUGUST 13
  • Embargoed: 28th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Cuba
  • Country: Cuba
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVADBNXJW8EXFLMVLX79P5DXWX5Z
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL THAT WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
    Fidel Castro has never had a birthday like this one. On Wednesday (August 12), the eve of the former Cuban leader's 89th birthday, Cuba convened a celebration in Havana for the leader's birthday. The fanfare of course is taking place the same week as a historic ceremony marking the restoration of ties with Cuba's longtime foe, the United States.
    But with international diplomacy set to hog the spotlight later in the week, Cubans in attendance at the evening event were focused on the display of Cuban music and traditions as well as the man himself who was being honoured.
    Both on stage and in the crowd, event attendees cried out for Fidel to continue his struggle. "Viva Fidel," they cried out.
    Cubans in attendance expressed gratitude for his decades of leadership.
    "Eighty-nine more years. Eighty-nine more years. So as to be able to succeed far beyond what we already have," said one attendee, Lazaro.
    The bearded leader who was a constant presence and transfixed Cubans for decades with his fiery rhetoric, still holds a special place in the hearts and minds of the Caribbean island's 11 million residents, even as age and infirmity force him farther into the background.
    "Good health (for Fidel). Happiness. We hope he continues as lucid as always, (as he's) so foresighted of all the good things that have happened for us, as well as the bad things that happen in the world," said another attendee, Teresita Planes.
    The birthday of one of Latin America's most iconic revolutionary figures has been a low key celebration in recent years. Castro goes about his daily activities out of the public eye, and how much influence the retired comandante still wields is unknown. He emerges every once in a while to reassure his followers that he is very much around, frustrating those who wish he was not.
    The event this year did attract the attendance of Bolivian President Evo Morales.
    "We come on our own accord to join (Fidel Castro) on his birthday, so wish him congratulations, to our brother Fidel, his government, and all the Cuban people. Tomorrow we will have a few hours with him. We hope to be able to share the birthday in a joint, family manner. He truly has our respect and admiration. And that's why I came to join him," he told reporters upon landing in Cuba.
    Now referred to as "the historic leader of the revolution," Castro lives in a modest home on the western outskirts of Havana with his wife, Dalia Soto del Valle, near his sons and grandchildren, and where he studies, writes and receives visitors.
    Castro governed the Caribbean island for 48 years before falling gravely ill in 2006 and handing power to his brother Raul Castro, who officially became president in 2008.
    And it is the younger Castro, who has proven himself to be less doctrinaire than his brother, and who along with President Barack Obama began the course towards normalisation of ties starting last December. The two countries' embassies are already up and running, and this week, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will be making a landmark trip to Cuba to acknowledge the relaunching of ties.
    Raul Castro has said completely normal relations with the United States would be impossible as long as Washington maintains its economic embargo against the island.
    Obama, a Democrat, has eased parts of the U.S. embargo but would need the Republican-controlled Congress to lift it completely.
    Castro also said normalisation would require the return to Cuban sovereignty of the U.S. naval base at Cuba's Guantanamo Bay, although American officials have said Guantanamo is not a topic of discussion in talks with Cuba.
    The deep freeze in U.S.-Cuba ties dated to Jan. 1, 1959, when rebels led by brothers Fidel, then 32, and Raul Castro toppled the U.S.-backed government of Fulgencio Batista. The Castros halted the long-time U.S.-friendly business climate upon taking power.
    On Friday (August 14), Kerry will visit Cuba for the embassy's inauguration in which U.S. officials will ceremoniously hoist the Stars and Stripes over the premises.
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