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Castro misses birthday ceremony | Castro misses birthday ceremony |
(about 2 hours later) | |
Frail Cuban leader Fidel Castro has stayed away from the opening ceremony of his 80th birthday celebrations in Havana on doctors' orders. | Frail Cuban leader Fidel Castro has stayed away from the opening ceremony of his 80th birthday celebrations in Havana on doctors' orders. |
A message apparently written by Mr Castro was read out saying he was not yet strong enough to attend the event. | A message apparently written by Mr Castro was read out saying he was not yet strong enough to attend the event. |
President Castro underwent emergency intestinal surgery at the end of July and has not been seen in public since. | President Castro underwent emergency intestinal surgery at the end of July and has not been seen in public since. |
He then temporarily handed over power to his brother Raul, and was last seen in a video on 28 October. | He then temporarily handed over power to his brother Raul, and was last seen in a video on 28 October. |
Since falling ill, he has only been seen in officially-sanctioned photographs and videos. | |
Reports in the US suggest that officials in Washington now believe Mr Castro is suffering from terminal cancer and may never recover. | |
Parade hope | |
The birthday festivities had been originally scheduled for August but were postponed. | |
I sign off with the great pain of not having been able to personally give you thanks Note by Fidel Castro They were rescheduled around 2 December, the 50th anniversary of the day Mr Castro and others landed in Cuba to start a guerrilla movement and eventually seize power in 1959. | |
There is speculation that he will attend a military parade in the capital on Saturday to mark that anniversary. | |
Bolivian President Evo Morales and the Colombian Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez are among some 1,500 notable guests heading to Cuba for the celebrations. | |
But if Mr Castro does not appear, many will wonder whether the president will ever return to power, says the BBC's Stephen Gibbs, in Havana. | |
'Challenging engagement' | 'Challenging engagement' |
Up to 5,000 people were packed into Havana's Karl Marx theatre when the president's note was read out. | |
In a note read from the stage to widespread applause, Mr Castro said his doctors had advised him not to appear before such a large crowd. | |
Saturday's parade marks 50 years since Castro landed in Cuba"It was only in the Karl Marx theatre that all guests could be seated but, according to the doctors, I was not yet ready for such a challenging engagement," he said. | |
The note did not rule out the possibility that he might appear at other events planned for later this week. | |
But it did veer off onto a range of other subjects, including a brief criticism of US President George W Bush and the voicing of concerns over the state of the global environment. | |
Those in the hall gave the absent author of the note a rapturous round of applause. | |
"I sign off with the great pain of not having been able to personally give you thanks and hugs to each and every one of you," the note read. | "I sign off with the great pain of not having been able to personally give you thanks and hugs to each and every one of you," the note read. |