Fidel Castro, who led Cuba for a half century and became known worldwide for decades of Cold War-era clashing with the United States, will celebrate his 86th birthday on Monday far from the limelight.
Officially, there are no plans to publicly honour the communist country’s one-time ‘commander-in-chief,’ who tightly orchestrated public life there from January 1959 until he suffered a health crisis in 2006 and delegated his duties to his brother Raul Castro.
On Monday, youth organisations plan to mark not the anniversary of Castro’s birth but rather that of Rene Gonzalez, one of five Cuban secret service agents imprisoned in the United States considered ‘heroes of the war on terror’ in their homeland.
And in another sign of the times, Idalys Ortiz, who claimed Cuba’s first Olympic judo title for 12 years, thanked her family, friends and Raul Castro, 81, before referencing the former president.
Fidel Castro has kept a low profile for months.
The father of the Cuban revolution last appeared in public in March, when he met Pope Benedict XVI on the pontiff’s visit to the Caribbean country.
Cubans, many of whom openly consider themselves ‘Fidelistas’ even as they denounce the shortcomings of the communist regime, believe their former leader spends his time in retirement on his property in west Havana, writing his memoirs and occasionally receiving foreign diplomats.
Officially, there are no plans to publicly honour the communist country’s one-time ‘commander-in-chief,’ who tightly orchestrated public life there from January 1959 until he suffered a health crisis in 2006 and delegated his duties to his brother Raul Castro.
On Monday, youth organisations plan to mark not the anniversary of Castro’s birth but rather that of Rene Gonzalez, one of five Cuban secret service agents imprisoned in the United States considered ‘heroes of the war on terror’ in their homeland.
And in another sign of the times, Idalys Ortiz, who claimed Cuba’s first Olympic judo title for 12 years, thanked her family, friends and Raul Castro, 81, before referencing the former president.
Fidel Castro has kept a low profile for months.
The father of the Cuban revolution last appeared in public in March, when he met Pope Benedict XVI on the pontiff’s visit to the Caribbean country.
Cubans, many of whom openly consider themselves ‘Fidelistas’ even as they denounce the shortcomings of the communist regime, believe their former leader spends his time in retirement on his property in west Havana, writing his memoirs and occasionally receiving foreign diplomats.