Fireworks exploded over Havana Bay as ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro turned 81 yesterday, spending his second consecutive birthday convalescing at an unknown location.
"Today we celebrate one more anniversary of the birthday of our Commander in Chief Fidel Castro, who turned 81 and who will continue celebrating many more birthdays with Cuba and the world," Havana resident Rosa Maria Suarez said in the early hours of yesterday.
She and hundreds of others stood on the Malecon sea front just after midnight to watch the fireworks marking Castro's birthday and the end of Havana's annual summer carnival.
"He's celebrating with his family at home, but it's as if he were with us here," said student Irane Neskaye, also watching the colorful pyrotechnics show popping over the bay with the skyline of Havana's Cabana Fortress in the background.
Shouts of "Long live Fidel!" and "We shall overcome!" could be heard coming from the open windows of an apartment in Old Havana.
Two documentaries about the bearded revolutionary's life were scheduled to air on state television early Monday evening.
From prisons in the United States, five Cuban agents serving long terms on espionage related charges sent greetings of their own, which were published on yesterday's Communist Party newspaper Granma.
"On this 81st birthday, we desire for you health and vitality, that you have many more, and that we can celebrate all those future anniversaries together in our beautiful fatherland," wrote Ramon Labanino, one of the so-called "Cuban Five" who were living in Miami a decade ago when they were arrested on espionage charges.
The men deny they were seeking US secrets and say they were gathering information about violent groups in an effort to prevent terrorist attacks against the island.
No major public celebrations of Castro's birthday were announced, and there was no expectation that he would make a public appearance more than a year after he announced he had undergone emergency intestinal surgery and was temporarily ceding power to his brother Raul, who is now 76.
Even when well, Castro traditionally has celebrated his birthday in a low-key manner, often simply sharing a cake with Cuban school children.
Source: China Daily/agencies
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