Reprinted from Caribbean Net News
caribbeannetnews.com

Cubans plan Castro birthday with or without leader

Saturday, August 12, 2006

by: Anthony Boadle

HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters): Supporters of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, anxious to see him reappear almost two weeks after undergoing surgery, are preparing to celebrate his 80th birthday on Sunday with or without him.

There has been no sight of Castro since he ceded power to his younger brother on July 31 after complicated stomach surgery, and his last public appearance took place on July 26.

"We are hoping Fidel will say something to us on Sunday. I'm sure he will appear at some point," said pensioner Roque Mejias, 74, walking in Havana's Vedado district. "We are very hopeful he will recover."

Dozens of musicians will perform on Saturday night on the "Anti-Imperialist Stage" opposite the U.S. diplomatic mission on Havana's Malecon seafront boulevard. They plan to play through midnight to sing Castro "Happy Birthday".

Neighborhood watch groups called Committees to Defend the Revolution, which play a central role in mobilizing rank-and-file support for the government, called on Cubans to spend Sunday sweeping and cleaning up their blocks.

Some Cubans will do what officials termed voluntary work on Sunday to pay homage to the ailing revolutionary.

Sugar industry workers will work four extra hours in cane fields, officials said. Communist youth organizations will man building sites and other workplaces.

There were no fresh details on Friday on Castro's condition, which has been termed a state secret. Officials say he is recovering and will be back in weeks if not months.

Washington, which has sought since shortly after Castro's 1959 revolution to unseat him, remained in the dark.

"At this point, the fact that Fidel Castro has not been seen is indicative, obviously, of a serious medical condition. We don't know how serious. We don't know what the level of recovery is," Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Shannon told reporters in Washington.

Castro's ebullient Venezuelan ally President Huge Chavez said with typical rhetorical flourish on Thursday that Castro was fighting a "great battle for life."

But with neither Castro nor acting president Raul Castro appearing in public, many Cubans, accustomed as they are to knowing little about the internal workings of the government, were left guessing as to who was running the country.

"I want to see him, and hear him say he is better. We love him very much," said Agustina Rodriguez, 63, dressed in white as is the custom in Afro-Cuban religion.

Rumors that Castro is dead have circulated wildly among the Cuban emigre community in Miami, where his enemies hope his demise will rid the Caribbean island of communism.

Some hope Castro's 80th birthday will be his last.

WORKING FOR CHANGE

"The best thing he can do is die so that this whole disgrace should end," said Huber Matos, who fought alongside Castro in 1959, was later jailed for 20 years as a traitor and now lives in Miami.

In Cuba, dissidents who oppose Castro's one-party rule and work for democratic change are not so sure Castro's time is up or that his brother Raul is running the government.

"I do not believe he is dead. He is still in charge and running Cuba," said Vladimiro Roca, the son of a founding father of Cuban communism who has spent five years in jail for criticizing Castro's economic policies.

"Otherwise Raul would have appeared already," Roca said. "Will Castro reappear on Sunday? That depends on what effect he wants to cause."

The United States, for its part, is still hoping for democratic change.

"When a rotor comes off a helicopter, it crashes. When a supreme leader disappears from an authoritarian regime, the authoritarian regime flounders," said Shannon.

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