Farewell Fidel?
November 29, 2006 | Leave a Comment
Fighter jets soared over anti-aircraft missiles as Cuba rehearsed for its first military parade in a decade to mark Fidel Castro’s 80th birthday, amid expectation that he may appear in the flesh.
Four months have passed since Castro underwent intestinal surgery and then relinquished power temporarily to his brother and defense minister, Raul Castro. Cuba postponed Fidel’s birthday celebrations from August 13 to December 2, hoping his recovery might be well along.
But Cuban authorities, who do not comment in detail on Castro’s health, have stopped saying Fidel will be back on the job full-time.
The celebrations have something of a farewell tone for many Cubans.
“I think he looks like he has the will to live, and he has been leading the country from his bed but at the same time preparing people for when he is no longer with us,” said marcher Silvia Loperon, 53.
Since Fidel Castro’s July 26 operation, he has only been seen on television and in still photographs.
Monday, activity was at a fever pitch and the volume was on high at Revolution Square. Military cadets turned out in formation, MiG fighters zoomed beneath the clouds and Soviet-era troop transport helicopters clattered by.
Young workers from several state industries were out marching with their co-workers, waving huge red, white and blue Cuban flags in the cool breeze.
The military parade Saturday at which Fidel Castro is widely expected — though his attendance is not officially confirmed — is the climax of almost a week of festivities.
Some 300,000 people are expected to march, and 2,000 guests from 80 countries, including presidents, ex-presidents and Nobel laureates are due on hand. Allies President Evo Morales of Bolivia and president-elect Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua are to attend, as is Haitian President Rene Preval.
Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez, a staunch critic of the United States and Castro’s key ally in keeping his regime alive economically, has not confirmed and is up for reelection this Sunday. But organizers in Havana said they would not rule out a quick visit by Castro’s close friend.
All eyes will be on the podium to see if the grey-bearded leader is present and, if he is, hazard a guess at whether he might be strong enough ever to retake the helm of Latin America’s only one-party communist regime.
For dissident Elizardo Sanchez, the birthday extravaganza “is something unprecedented; it is a pharaonic celebration that seems more like a good-bye.”
Supporters were hopeful and nostalgic.
“We expect to see our commander in his military uniform. On Saturday we are going to show that the Revolution is still on its feet and more solid than ever,” said Laura Cuadra, 52, a worker at an epidemiology center out marching.
Within a month of the operation, Castro said he had lost 18.6 kilograms (41 pounds). His usual proud frame of a statesman faded in pictures to a gaunt, elderly hospital patient.
Whether or not he returns to work full time, over the past four months Cuba has grown used to the idea of life without Fidel, the only leader most Cubans have known. He took power in January 1959.
For years, Castro’s visage was not seen on billboards bearing government slogans, as if to give it more weight elsewhere. Now, Fidel’s face, no longer everyday currency in state media, is on billboards reassuring “Vamos bien” — things are going well.
And with the baton passed to Raul Castro, 75, the public profiles of other communist leaders, such as Vice President Carlos Lage, 55, have been raised on state television. Raul Castro has kept a low profile.
Loly, a 63-year-old nurse in Havana, said privately that Fidel Castro was unlikely to return to power. “Fidel is not coming back. When he is no longer alive, the political line is going to be the same, but let’s hope the economy improves.
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