In an opinion piece in state media, Fidel Castro thanked the people, reminisced about his youth and true to form, blasted Barack Obama, this time for the U.S. president’s failure to apologize for the world’s first atomic bombing, during his visit to the Japanese city of Hiroshima in May. Castro also reminisced about his childhood and youth in eastern Cuba, as well as his father’s death.
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Castro, who retired from public life in 2006 due to ill health and appointed his brother Raul in his place, criticized US President Barack Obama for failing to explicitly apologize during his historic visit to Japan in May for Washington´s decision to drop the atomic bomb.
Mr. Castro, who took power in Cuba’s 1959 revolution and ruled for almost half a century, was often seen puffing on his favoured, long and thin Lancero model until he quit in 1985.
When the clock struck midnight on Friday, fireworks exploded and a huge street party was organised to celebrate the occasion in the capital.
“He suffered quite a bit”, Mr Castro wrote.
“I laughed with the Machiavellian plans several USA presidents had to eliminate me in any way”, said the Cuban leader.
Dressed in a white sports jacket and surrounded by Cuban president, Raul Castro, and his Venezuelan equivalent, Nicolas Maduro, Fidel watched a musical show put on by the children’s company “La Colmenita” at the Karl Marx Theater.
“He lacked the words to ask for forgiveness for the killings of hundreds of thousands of people”, the Associated Press quoted from his letter.
In his last opinion piece, in March, the “Historic Leader” accused Obama of sweet-talking the Cuban people during his visit to the island – the first by a U.S. leader in 88 years – and of ignoring the accomplishments of Communist rule.
Many Cubans feel Fidel Castro is no longer in step with the times. Raul’s most broadly feted accomplishment since taking power has been implementing a detente with the United States after a half century of frozen confrontation.
Amongst other tributes made for Fidel Castro’s birthday, the website www.fidelcastro.cu was also launched where his speeches and public interventions are available in many languages.
For Cueto, a 72-year-old who learned cigar-rolling when he was 5 years old, it is a matter of national pride for Cuba to keep the record.
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Indeed, regardless of the present, many Cubans continue to revere Fidel for having freed Cuba from United States domination and introduced universal, free healthcare and education.
