Cuba Celebrates Fidel Castro's 85th Birthday

A file picture dated 19 April 2011 shows Cuban leader Fidel Castro (L) and his brother and Cuban President Raul Castro (R) attending the closing session fof 6th Congress of the party in Havana, Cuba. EPA/BGNES

Legendary Cuban revolutionary leader, Fidel Castro, celebrated Saturday, August 13th, his 85th birthday, an event that was marked across Cuba.

Since quitting all formal government positions in 2006, Fidel Castro has been battling a serious illness, while his younger brother Raul Castro has been in charge of the "Liberty Island" launching certain social and economic reform.

In spite of his condition, Fidel Castro has been active in commenting on current world affairs in the Cuban press, in a newspaper column called Reflections.

In 2010, he started to appear again at public events, and even spoke at an extraordinary meeting of the National Assembly of People's Power (Parliament) and before several thousand students outside the University of Havana.

The last time he has appeared in public was in mid-April at the 6th Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba. The delegates to that forum, the first over nearly 14 years, appointed Raul Castro to the post of First Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, which had formerly belonged to Fidel Castro.

The last article that the leader of the Cuban Revolution published was devoted to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who continues to struggle with cancer and is undergoing treatment in Cuba.

The central event in Cuba for Castro's anniversary was a three-hour concert called Serenade of Loyalty (Serenata de la Fidelidad) at Havana's Karl Marx Theater Saturday morning.

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