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Fidel Castro thanked Cubans for their best wishes on his 90th birthday and criticized US President Barack Obama in a lengthy letter published by state media. He appeared but did not speak at a gala in his honor broadcast on state television.
"I want to express my deepest gratitude for the shows of respect, greetings and praise that I've received, which give me strength to reciprocate with ideas that I will send to party militants and organizations," he wrote on Saturday.
"Modern medical techniques have allowed me to scrutinize the universe," wrote Castro, who stepped down as Cuba's president 10 years ago after suffering a severe gastrointestinal illness.
Just after 6 pm, he was seen in footage on state television slowly approaching his seat at Havana's Karl Marx theater, clad in a white Puma tracksuit top and green shirt. He sat in what appeared to be a specially equipped wheelchair and watched a musical tribute with highlights from his decades in power.
Cuba's former president Fidel Castro talks to Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, as he attends with his wife Cilia Flores to a cultural gala to celebrate Castro's 90th birthday in Havana, Cuba August 13, 2016. Photo/Agencies
In his letter, Castro accompanied his thanks with reminiscences about his childhood and youth in eastern Cuba, describing the geology and plant life of the region where he grew up. He touched on his father's death shortly before his victory in overthrowing US-backed strongman Fulgencio Batista in 1959.
Castro also took the opportunity to criticize Obama, who appeared to anger the revolutionary leader with a March trip to Cuba in which he called for Cubans to look toward the future. A week after the trip, Castro wrote a sternly worded letter admonishing Obama to read up on Cuban history, and declaring that "we don't need the empire to give us anything".
In Saturday's letter, he attacked Obama for not apologizing to the Japanese people during a May trip to Hiroshima, describing his speech there as "lacking stature".
(CHINA DAILY)
