CUBA: President Fidel Castro's health and future dominate Country's delayed birthday celebrations and military parade

Now frail from illness and out of sight, Cuban President Fidel Castro is being remembered this week in Cuba as a dashing young revolutionary who set sail 50 years ago from a sleepy Mexican port to a place in history. After four months out of public view, the events starting on Tuesday (November 28) may tell much about whether Castro is recovering from an undisclosed illness and can again govern the communist country he has led for nearly half a century. In the stuff of leftist legend, Castro and a band of armed comrades left the Gulf coast town of Tuxpan in the leaky "Granma" yacht for Cuba in the early hours of Nov. 26, 1956 to start the revolution that ousted dictator Fulgencio Batista. The guerrillas landed in Cuba on December 2. "We were waiting for him (Castro), for a sighting, working clandestinely obviously, and expecting to see the fall of Batista's regime. We had been lifelong enemies, our parents were already their enemies, and Yankees' (U.S.) enemies too," recalled 87-year old revolutionary army veteran, Mariano Martines Salas. The 82 insurgents, including left-wing icon Ernesto "Che" Guevara, overcame rough seas to land in Cuba a week later and against the odds overthrew the Batista government in 1959. After ruling uninterrupted since then, Castro stepped down in July following stomach surgery and handed power to his brother Raul while he recovers. Veteran Martines served under Raul Castro's rule, on the second revolutionary front. Despite Fidel's fragile health, Martines said the revolution would continue. "We fulfilled our goal to fight capitalism. That we did and we will keep on doing until they kill us, or we die. We are clear on that. However things are messed up right now they are tricking him, they've tricked him already, and that was truly unexpected. I'd never imagined that he (Fidel) could be poisoned by lies and tricks. Is that going to change? Well, with Raul it should change because he really goes places, he goes to people's homes and deals with things directly and with an iron fist," Martines said. Images of a gaunt-looking Castro, 80, on Cuban television last month are a far cry from the stocky fighter who left Mexico without the heavy beard that later became his trademark. Castro, who secretly trained his revolutionaries for months in the Mexican highlands before heading for Cuba, slept only one or two hours a night and had a hearty appetite. Castro has towered over Cuba since taking power in 1959 and becoming a world figure for his defiance of a hostile United States. Cubans revere him in many ways, but there is discontent with his state-controlled economy which provides jobs that pay the average person $15 a month. The Oct. 28 video shook the confidence of many Cubans that the only leader most have ever known will return to power. A common refrain is that even if he survives his illness, at 80 he no longer has the energy to rule. "In spite of all the adversities, as all Cubans, I have faith in the Commander's recovery. We want a speedy recovery for Fidel because he is the main figure, but if that doesn't happen we'll continue with Raul, or with whoever Fidel appoints to do his job and continue with the revolution," said 57-year old peanut street vendor, Ivis Negrin. Rumoured to have cancer despite official denials, Castro has made no public appearances since July. It is not clear whether he will appear at a military parade in Cuba on December 2 to mark the 50th anniversary of his landing. Saturday's military parade will be the first large-scale event in a decade. The leftist leader last presided a military parade in 1996, when thousands of Cubans took part in celebrations to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the landing in the island of Castro and his revolutionary forces. Organizers then said that the event was a show of the Cuban people's solidarity behind the socialist government. Celebrations this time have turned into a high-stakes test of his health and political future as the world watches to see if he is well enough to attend. Meanwhile, preparations for Saturday (December 02) military parade are underway. But the big question remains whether or not Fidel or brother Raul will attend. Cuban organizers are expecting an influx of foreign journalists for the event.

ITN Source | November 28, 2006

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