HAVANA – Celebrations started here on Tuesday to mark the birthday of retired Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who turns 88 on Wednesday.
The commemorations, which include two days of cultural, athletic and civic events, began at 6 pm local time (2200 GMT) with the opening of an audiovisual exhibit of photographs of the iconic leader who led the 1959 Cuban Revolution.
The exhibit, titled “Fidel is Fidel,” features documentary photographs taken by renowned cameraman Roberto Chile, who has served as Castro’s personal photographer for 25 years.
Taken between 2005 and 2012, the images depicting the “tireless” former leader will be on show until Sept. 13, along with a Bronze sculpture of Castro inspired by one of his most emblematic photographic portraits.
Chile said the exhibit is taking place simultaneously in Havana’s
Revolution Plaza and the Art Stalker Gallery in Berlin, Germany.
“At both venues, they will project audiovisuals that recall watershed moments in Fidel’s revolutionary undertakings through history, and his relationship with the people,” he said.
On Wednesday, Cuba’s Bayamo Wax Museum will unveil a wax figure of Colombian-born writer and 1982 Nobel Prize winner Gabriel Garcia Colombian-born writer and 1982 Nobel Prize winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who was a close friend of Castro’s.
Castro was born on Aug 13, 1926 in Biran, in what is now known as
Holguin province, to the family of Spanish immigrant Angel Castro and Cuban farmer Lina Ruz.
Yuniasky Crespo, first secretary of Cuba’s Union of Communist Youth that organized the events, said each activity “will serve to honor the justice won, preserved and shared by the revolution, to ratify our sacred commitment to the fatherland, the future and our dreams.”
On Dec 17, 1999, the UN General Assembly declared August 12 to be International Youth Day, which is meant as an opportunity to draw attention to a given set of cultural and legal issues surrounding
youth worldwide.
………………
Evo Morales Says Fidel Castro is an Eternal Leader
HAVANA, Cuba, Aug 9 (acn) Bolivia’s Evo Morales described Fidel Castro an eternal and ever-present world leader and he stressed the
support he received from the Cuban leader when he took power in 2006.
For me, our eternal leader is Fidel. Fidel is humanistic and
supportive, while speaking with him will always entail a lesson to
learn,” said Morales in La Paz.
The Bolivian head of state also stressed the assistance given by Cuban professionals to his nation in an effort to improve his people’s
quality of life by eradicating illiteracy and expanding access to
health care with initiatives such as the free-eye-surgery program known as Operation Miracle.
Morales also said that Fidel’s dream about the integration of the
region in a single bloc of nations came true with the setting up of the
Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), and
organization that does not include the United States and Canada.
Evo Morales gave his statements during the presentation of the book “The Eyes of the Puma” by Cuban writer Mercedes de Armas, which
describes the significance of the process of change implemented in
Bolivia by Evo Morales since 2006………………………………
Fidel marcó un antes y un después en la historia
Entrevista a Claudia Camba, de la UMMEP.
…………………
Fidel illuminates the Future, says Nicolas Maduro
HAVANA, Cuba, Aug 13 (acn) Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said in Caracas that Cuban Revolution leader Fidel Castro is a giant of the 20th and 21st centuries and that he fully illuminates the future.
Speaking on his Tuesday radio show in the Venezuelan Capital on Fidel’s 88th birthday this August 13, Maduro said that Fidel defended Cuban identity and expelled US imperialism from the island.
When all socialist lights turned off around the world Cuba continued to beam its socialist light and this marks the significance of Fidel’s project, which made him the most outstanding leader of the 20th century, Maduro stressed.
We must always bear in mind everything Fidel and the Cuban Revolution did for Africa and Latin America, he noted.
As to the close friendship between Hugo Chavez and Fidel, Maduro said that the Venezuelan leader admired him and also admired the history he represented. It was a father-to-son relationship, which gave birth to the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of our Americas, a regional integration bloc know by its acronyms ALBA, as well as PetroCaribe and other regional programs.
Maduro also stressed the support Fidel Gave Chavez during his illness by saying that Fidel was always by Chavez’ side; he was there almost till his last day, he recalled.
A video about the meetings between Chavez and Fidel was screened to pay tribute to the Cuban Revolution leader on his birthday.