Fidel Castro's Absence Felt on Revolution Day
A year ago, Fidel Castro led thousands of Cuba’s communist party faithful in enthusiastic cheers to celebrate the guerrilla attacks on army barracks that sparked his revolution a half century before. It was the last time he was seen in public.
That night, after two long speeches, the gaunt 80-year-old leader suffered an acute infection and bleeding in his colon, from which he has yet to recover. Five days later, he handed over power to his brother and a small group of cabinet officials on a temporary basis.
This year, for the first time, it was Mr. Castro’s younger brother, Raúl, the acting president and defense minister, who gave the traditional revolutionary harangue at the anniversary celebration. Raúl Castro’s appearance deepened the widespread feeling among citizens here that the once all-powerful leader of Cuba has slipped into semi-retirement and is unlikely to return.
Yet Fidel Castro is still very much alive, and Cubans these days live in a kind of limbo, with two masters, neither of them fully in control of the one-party socialist state.
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That night, after two long speeches, the gaunt 80-year-old leader suffered an acute infection and bleeding in his colon, from which he has yet to recover. Five days later, he handed over power to his brother and a small group of cabinet officials on a temporary basis.
This year, for the first time, it was Mr. Castro’s younger brother, Raúl, the acting president and defense minister, who gave the traditional revolutionary harangue at the anniversary celebration. Raúl Castro’s appearance deepened the widespread feeling among citizens here that the once all-powerful leader of Cuba has slipped into semi-retirement and is unlikely to return.
Yet Fidel Castro is still very much alive, and Cubans these days live in a kind of limbo, with two masters, neither of them fully in control of the one-party socialist state.