Castro misses birthday parade

Castro misses birthday parade
POSTED: 6:26 p.m. EST, December 2, 2006

HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- Tanks rolled through the streets and jets
roared overhead Saturday in Havana's first military parade in a decade,
but ailing leader Fidel Castro did not show up at what had been viewed
as a test of his political future.

Some 300,000 flag-waving Cubans marched past a reviewing stand in
Havana's Revolution Square in salute to the aging leader who was nowhere
to be seen, apparently too ill to attend.

Castro's absence at the event marking his 80th birthday and the 50th
anniversary of the start of the revolution that put him in power
accelerated speculation that his 47-year rule of Cuba is coming to an
end. (Watch Castro's brother fill in for him at parade Video)

"It means he will not return to power, that's for sure. Otherwise he
would have made it," said a European diplomat who attended the parade
but asked not to be identified.

The biggest military parade in Cuba since 1986 capped five days of
celebrations that felt more like a farewell than a birthday party and
included conferences on Castro's place in history. The events were
attended by left-wing politicians and intellectuals from dozens of
countries.

Castro has not been seen in public since emergency surgery in late July
that forced him to temporarily turn over power to his brother Raul
Castro. He has appeared feeble in the few photos and videos released by
the government.

Raul Castro, Cuba's acting president and defense minister, led the
parade, but said nothing about his brother's condition or absence in a
speech to several thousand people gathered in Revolution Square.

He quoted from a past Fidel speech, praised the Cuban people for their
"maturity" the past four months and at the end shouted "Viva Fidel."

Marchers shouted "Viva Raul" and one carried a sign that said "Forwards
Raul."

Cuban officials have denied reports that Fidel Castro has cancer and
continue to insist he is recovering and will return to power, but
analysts and diplomats believe he will be a figurehead at best if he
survives his still-undisclosed illness.

Castro is the last key player from the Cold War to remain in power,
surviving the attempts of 10 U.S. presidents to get rid of him by force,
assassination or economic pressure.

His defiance of the hostile superpower and his international promotion
of communism has made him a world figure far out of proportion to the
size of his small nation of 11 million people.
'End of an era'

Although many Cubans hope for economic change to improve their average
salary of $15 a month, they revere or respect Fidel Castro in many ways.

"He is an ill old man. I respect the sentiments of his family, but it is
clear that an era is coming to an end," said leading dissident and
pro-democracy activist Oswaldo Paya.

He said it was time Cuba's monolithic one-party state allowed Cubans to
have a say through the ballot box.

Castro's health overshadowed the military display that experts say was
meant as a show of muscle to anyone who thinks communist Cuba is
vulnerable because of uncertainty over its the future leadership.

The tanks and rocket launchers that rolled through the square and MiG
jet fighters and helicopter gunships that flew past in the clear Havana
sky were aging equipment provided by the Soviet Union before it
collapsed in 1991.

The vehicles sent up clouds of smoke as they passed by and one stalled
in front of the reviewing stand where Raul Castro and a host of
dignitaries watched.

The parade was as much an anti-United States rally as it was a tribute
to Fidel Castro.

"Cuba si, Yankee no," the marchers shouted.

"Those weapons will never bow before the Empire," read a banner hanging
in the square.

In his speech, Raul Castro blasted the United States for, among other
things, its decades-long trade embargo and general hostility toward Cuba.

He did leave the door open to improving relations, saying, "We take this
opportunity to once again state that we are willing to resolve at the
negotiating table the longstanding dispute between the United States and
Cuba

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/12/02/cuba.castro.reut/index.html?section=cnn_latest