Prensa Latina, the Cuban state news agency, said that important figures of Cuba’s revolutionary past were in the audience, including survivors of the attack on the Moncada Barracks on July 26, 1953 and of the journey on the Granma yacht, which brought Fidel back to Cuba on December 2, 1956, to fight against the dictatorship against Fulgencio Batista. Raul’s most broadly feted accomplishment since taking power has been implementing a detente with the United States after a half century of confrontation.
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In an article published by Cuban state media, Castro wrote: “Mankind is faced today with the greatest danger in its history”.
Cuban leader and former president Fidel Castro on Saturday thanked all the good wishes for his 90th birthday, and slammed the USA for the “dangers” it has caused against humanity.
Although mostly out of sight, Castro has not been out of the minds of ordinary Cubans. “The modern world has left him and Cuba behind”.
“I want you to express my deepest gratitude for the signs of respect, greetings and gifts I have received in these days, that give me strength to reciprocate with ideas that I will send to party militants and relevant agencies”, he wrote in the state-run Granma newspaper.
“Modern medical techniques have allowed me to scrutinize the universe”, wrote Mr. Casro, who stepped down as Cuba’s President 10 years ago after suffering a severe gastrointestinal illness.
In his letter, Castro accompanied his thanks with reminiscences about his childhood and youth in eastern Cuba, describing the geology and plant life of the region where he grew up.
He touched on his father’s death shortly before his own victory in overthrowing U.S-backed strongman Fulgencio Batista in 1959.
Amid celebrations on the Communist island nation, including a massive seafront party and a record-breaking 90m cigar dedicated to the former military commander, Mr Castro criticised Mr Obama for failing to explicitly apologise for America’s decision to drop the atomic bomb during his historic visit to Hiroshima in Japan.
In general, the Government has taken relatively low-key approach to Castro’s birthday, in comparison with the large-scale gatherings that were planned for his 80th.
Castro last spoke to the public in April, when he closed the congress of the Cuban Communist party, which is held every two decades.
Need for closer economic ties with U.S.
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The brightest spot in Cuba’s slowing economy has been a surge in tourism that is expected to boom when commercial flights to and from the United States resume on 31 August.
