Several of those have been substantiated by U.S. officials; some reportedly involved slipping poisoned or explosive cigars to the cigar-loving Cuban leader.
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The Russian leader sent his “warmest wishes” to the former Cuban president, hailing Castro’s enormous contributions to “the development of friendship and cooperation” between Havana and Moscow.
Cuban leader and former president Fidel Castro on Saturday, thanked all the good wishes for his 90th birthday, and slammed the US for the “dangers” it has caused against humanity.
“I want to express my most profound gratitude for the shows of respect, the greetings and gifts I have received the days, which give me the strength to reciprocate through ideas”, wrote Castro, as reported by Reuters.
Mr. Castro criticised U.S. President Barack Obama for failing to explicitly apologise during his historic visit to Japan in May for Washington’s decision to drop the atomic bomb.
He criticised Mr Obama for not apologising to the people of Hiroshima for the nuclear bomb dropped there by the U.S. in World War Two.
As Fidel Castro turns 90 today, many historians will likely remember him for his dictatorial rule of Cuba since seizing power in the late 1950s from the US -backed Fulgencio Batista regime.
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.
Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, who arrived in Havana on Friday night, is scheduled to participate in celebrations, according to Prensa Latina.
The Cuban government has taken a relatively low-key approach to Castro’s birthday, in comparison with the large-scale gatherings that had been planned for his 80th. Government ministries have held small musical performances and photo exhibitions that pay tribute to the former head of state.
“We don’t need the empire to give us anything”, read the piece titled “My Brother Obama” as translated by The New York Times.
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Mr Castro thanked Cubans for their tributes on Saturday in a long column carried by state-run media in which the iconic leftist revolutionary also lambasted the US.
