Castro turns 85 quietly but still a force in Cuba
By PETER ORSI
Associated Press
HAVANA -- Revolutionary icon Fidel Castro marked his 85th birthday
behind closed doors Saturday as the aging leader famous for railing
against Washington increasingly fades from the spotlight - even if his
outsize persona continues to cast a long shadow over Cuban society and
U.S. relations.
There were no announcements of how Castro planned to spend the day,
though Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, in Havana for cancer treatment,
said via Twitter that he was with his longtime friend and political mentor.
"Here with Fidel, celebrating his 85th birthday! Viva Fidel!" Chavez
tweeted.
The previous night two dozen musical acts from across Latin America held
a concert in Castro's honor.
"What we say in the songs of our invited artists will be little next to
what he deserves," Alfredo Vera, one of the organizers, said late
Friday. "Congratulations, beloved and eternal comandante."
The former president didn't make it to his own birthday bash - hardly a
surprise since he appears infrequently since he stepped down in 2006, at
first temporarily, and then permanently in 2008, due an intestinal
illness that he later said nearly killed him.
Nor did his younger brother and presidential successor, Raul Castro,
attend. Instead, first Vice President Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, who
also delivered the keynote address for Revolution Day on July 26, was
the highest ranking among several government officials in the
presidential seats at Karl Marx Theater.
Also Saturday, an exhibition featuring works by artist Nelson Dominguez
and Castro's son Alex, a photographer, opened at the Jose Marti Memorial
in Havana.
A gregarious public speaker as president, Castro is seen publicly these
days in official still photographs and video footage, such as recent
images showing him with Raul and Chavez.
Gray-bearded and his hair thinning, Castro seemed unsteady on his feet
when he made a surprise showing at a Communist Party Congress in April,
walking to his seat with the help of an aide. It was at that same
gathering that the party for the first time named a leadership council
without him on it, as Fidel left his last official position.
Yet even in retirement, Castro has continued to be a player on the
island. Raul has said he consults with his older brother, and some
Cuba-watchers say his presence has acted as a brake on reforms that Raul
is betting will save the island's economy by loosening some state control.
"I think the issue is how long (Fidel) is going to linger on and how
long he's going to meddle in the government," said Ann Louise Bardach, a
longtime Cuba watcher and author of the book "Without Fidel: A Death
Foretold in Miami, Havana and Washington."
"As long as he is alive and he is compus mentis, he's not going to
change his thinking," Bardach said. "He's not going to have an epiphany
about economic policy. He's going to do what he always did, which is the
preservation of the revolution at all costs."
Castro has publicly backed Raul's reforms, however, even though he
expressed ideological dislike for similar openings while president.
In retirement, Castro has been a prolific writer of newspaper columns
and a series of books, including autobiographical accounts of the events
that led him to take power after the 1959 revolution.
"Nobody better than he understands the basic, primordial part of our
history," official biographer Katuska Blanco said in an interview aired
Friday on state TV. "He also has always said that history is made by
leaders and the people."
Castro is currently on a hiatus from the opinion pieces, many of them
critical of U.S. foreign policy. He has published just one column since
late May, though it's not unusual or unprecedented for his pen to go
still for extended periods.
Omara Portuondo, the Grammy-winning singer of Buena Vista Social Club
fame, was the headliner for Friday night's show, dubbed the "Serenade of
Fidelity."
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/08/13/2358046/castro-turns-85-quietly-but-still.html
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