CUBA-USA/EMBASSY PREPS Amid birthday celebrations for Fidel Castro, preparations underway for flag-raising at U.S. embassy

Record ID: 144186

  • Title: CUBA-USA/EMBASSY PREPS Amid birthday celebrations for Fidel Castro, preparations underway for flag-raising at U.S. embassy
  • Date: 13th August 2015
  • Summary: HAVANA, CUBA (AUGUST 13, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF HAVANA, BUILDINGS AND CARS PEOPLE WALKING VARIOUS OF PEOPLE BOARDING AND DISEMBARKING BUS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) HAVANA RESIDENT, SERGIO SUAREZ, SAYING: "Our Comandante has been a father for Cuba and the entire world. Historically, he has been a man - since he was born, today, he turns 89 years old - he has been an honest
  • Embargoed: 28th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Cuba
  • Country: Cuba
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA107TEO9EZQU97AO8KA7RCVKZ9
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL THAT WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
    Cubans throughout Havana honoured and praised former president Fidel Castro on Thursday (August 13) to mark his 89th birthday while preparations continued for the official flag-raising ceremony at the U.S. embassy.
    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.
    "Our Comandante has been a father for Cuba and the entire world. Historically, he has been a man - since he was born, today, he turns 89 years old - he has been an honest man and all that he has done has been for the social well-being of Cuba and the rest of the world," said Havana resident, Sergio Suarez.
    Castro and his rebel army ousted U.S. backed dictator Fulgencio Batista during a 1959 revolution.
    The charismatic and controversial figure then governed the Caribbean island for 48 years before falling ill in 2006 and handing power to his brother Raul Castro, who officially became president in 2008.
    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.
    Amid birthday celebrations for the former president, final preparations were underway ahead of Friday's (August 14) flag-raising ceremony at the U.S. embassy, now a symbol of a new, friendlier relationship between Washington and Havana.
    U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will walk inside the embassy's iron fence and raise a U.S. flag to mark the restoration of diplomatic relations after five decades of Cold War hostility.
    Washington severed diplomatic ties with Castro's government in 1961, three months before the failed Bay of Pigs invasion by U.S.-armed Cuban exiles.
    Last December, U.S. President Barack Obama announced he would use his executive powers to move toward more normal relations with Cuba after the five-decade standoff.
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