On 90th birthday, Fidel Castro thanks well-wishers, appears at gala
Fidel Castro made a rare public appearance on August 13 at his 90th birthday gala, after the leader of the 1959 revolution thanked fellow Cubans for their well wishes and lambasted his old foe the United States in a column carried by state-run media.
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Thousands danced to Latin beats along Havana's curving seafront Malecon boulevard throughout the night from August 12 to August 13. At the giant street party, a live band played "Happy Birthday" on the stroke of midnight and fireworks exploded on the other side of the bay.
The iconic leftist revolutionary, who handed over power in 2008 to his younger brother Raul due to ill health, appeared later in the day for a birthday gala featuring children's theater, live music and videos from his life.
"I want to express my most profound gratitude for the shows of respect, the greetings and gifts I have received the days, which give me the strength to reciprocate through ideas," Castro wrote in the opinion piece.
"Fidel is the best thing that happened to our country," said Aldo Zamora, 40, selling candy-colored balloon animals at the street party along the Malecon, as a tropical electric storm lit up the night sky.
