Cuban leader Fidel Castro turns 82

Thursday, August 14, 2008 at 3:08 am

Cuba’s former leader and long time revolutionary icon, Fidel Castro, turned 82 years old on Wednesday (August 13). No official birthday bash was planned for the ageing leader who has not been seen in public since he became ill two years ago and there was no expectation that he would make an appearance for the occasion.

Yet even when well, Castro traditionally celebrated his birthday in a low-key manner, often simply sharing a cake with Cuban school children. Castro has remained out of the public eye since he underwent intestinal surgery in July 2006 and later ceded power to his brother Raul, who is now 77. Until Raul Castro’s rise to power, many Cubans had not known any other leader as Fidel Castro had ruled unopposed and uninterrupted for nearly 50 years.

Fidel Castro first launched his revolutionary fight with a July 26, 1953 attack on a military barracks in the eastern city of Santiago. He was arrested and freed under an amnesty. He was born with the name Fidel Castro Ruz in Biran, a small town in eastern Cuba, where his Spanish immigrant father ran a prosperous plantation. His official birthday is Aug. 13, 1926, although some say he was born a year later.

Around Havana, billboards or posters with images of the revolutionary hero are now few and far between. But Fidel Castro affectionately referred to by some as the “Comandante” remains a popular figure by some. “The Comandante is the max and the best in the whole world. He’s the best,” Havana resident, Juan Guiteras, said.

For the past two years, Fidel Castro’s public role has been relegated to writing editorials once or twice a week which are published on official government websites and in government newspapers. Talk of Castro’s mortality was long taboo on the island, but that ended on June 23, 2001, when he fainted during a speech in the sun.

Although Castro quickly returned to the stage, many Cubans understood for the first time that their leader was simply human. A newspaper vendor in Havana indicated to AP Television that he believed Fidel Castro’s days may be numbered. “Well, one more year. I have nothing more to say,” he said.

Castro shattered a kneecap and broke an arm when he fell after a speech on October 20, 2004, but typically laughed off rumours about his health and recovered from that fall amazingly fast. Cubans have cultivated a myth over the last half-century that Fidel Castro is invincible, but in recent times have had to face the reality that their leader is an elderly man who will someday die.

His most recent appearances have been in the form of sporadic videos shown on state-owned television, many with muted audio and poorly edited. The latest such video, according to local officials, was shot on June 17, 2008 during a visit from Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. Fidel appears next to him and his brother Raul in an undisclosed garden location.

Since Castro announced his illness, the country has calmly and quietly gone about its business waiting for more news about his condition and wondering what the future holds. But life has changed little in Cuba since Raul Castro assumed the leadership in 2006 and later won the election in February of 2008. Many believe Raul is more likely than Fidel to undertake modest economic reforms in the island’s communist-run system, but no major changes are expected while the elder Castro is still alive.

(With inputs from agencies)

( This post is from an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not endorsed by APakistanNews.Com.)

Cuban leader Fidel Castro turns 82

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