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Cubans celebrate Castro’s 81st birthday

— Photo: AFP

UNTIRING EFFORTS: Cuban President Fidel Castro delivering a speech in the province of Granma in this July 26, 2006 file photo.

HAVANA: Fireworks exploded over Havana Bay and five Cuban agents imprisoned in the United States sent greetings as ailing leader Fidel Castro turned 81 on Monday, spending his second consecutive birthday convalescing at an unknown location.

“Today we celebrate one more anniversary of the birthday of our Comandante en Jefe 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 Monday.

She and hundreds of others stood on the Malecon sea front just after midnight to watch the fireworks marking Mr. 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 colourful 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 on Monday evening. From prisons in the U.S., five Cuban agents serving long terms on espionage charges sent greetings of their own, which were published on the Communist Party newspaper Granma. Even when well, Mr. Castro has celebrated his birthday in a low-key manner. — AP

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