FIDEL CASTRO RIPS OBAMA ON HIS 90th BIRTHDAY, NO POWER HAS THE RIGHT TO KILL MILLIONS OF PEOPLE, VIVA FIDEL !

Cuba’s revolutionary leader and former President Fidel Castro celebrated his 90th birthday on Saturday, receiving good wishes from his people and the world.

CASTRO THANKS CUBA, CRITICIZES U.S. ********

After months of steady progress in normalizing relations between the United States and Cuba, Fidel Castro used the occasion of his 90th birthday to lash out once more against President Obama.

In a long letter published Saturday by state media, the former Cuban leader thanked supporters for their good wishes, reminisced about his boyhood and took on Obama, whom he also criticized after the American’s historic visit to the communist island nation in March.

This time, the target of Castro’s ire was a speech Obama delivered in May to the people of Japan, where he became the first sitting American president to visit Hiroshima, site of the atomic bombing 71 years ago. Obama reflected on the obligations of humankind to avoid war and resolve conflict, but did not apologize for the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

“I believe that the United States’ president’s speech lacked stature when he visited Japan,” Castro wrote, “and it lacked an apology for the killing of hundreds of thousands of people in Hiroshima, in spite of the fact that they knew the effects of the bomb. The attack on Nagasaki was equally criminal, a city that the powerful chose at random. It’s for that reason that I must hammer on the necessity of preserving peace, and that no power has the right to kill millions of human beings.”

Obama’s March visit to the island, the first by a sitting American president in 90 years, offered words of reconciliation, but also criticism.

Obama pressed Cuba on improving its record on human rights, while Raul Castro chided the U.S. failure to provide universal healthcare and equal pay, which he defined as human rights. During a joint news conference with Obama, Castro also bristled when a reporter asked whether he was willing to release political prisoners, countering that Cuba doesn’t have any.

Obama, meanwhile, told the Cuban people in a speech broadcast live on state TV that “it is time for us to look forward to the future together–a future of hope. And it won’t be easy, and there will be setbacks. It will take time. But my time here in Cuba renews my hope and my confidence in what the Cuban people will do. We can make this journey as friends, and as neighbors, and as family–together.”

Fidel Castro wrote a long, critical piece in response, saying that upon hearing those “most sweetened” words, “all of us were at risk of a heart attack.”

The Cuban people, he wrote, could provide for themselves. “We do not need the empire to give us anything.”

Castro’s 90th birthday celebration this year has been low-key. Fireworks and a concert mark the day, and one man is attempting to break his own world record by rolling a 90-meter cigar in Castro’s honor.

But compared with his 80th birthday, when he was still in power, the fanfare is minimal. At that time, extensive celebrations were planned but delayed because Castro was hospitalized for intestinal surgery.

When foreign dignitaries, intellectuals and writers finally gathered in November 2006 for festivities, Castro announced he was still too sick to appear, stoking concerns that his 80^th birthday would be his last.

Castro may be losing his relevancy in modern-day Cuba, but he is still loved.

“I want to express my deepest gratitude for the shows of respect, greetings and praise that I’ve received in recent days, which give me strength to reciprocate with ideas that I will send to party militants and relevant organizations,” he wrote.

***** MORE ON FIDEL 90th BIRTHDAY ~

“I want to express my deepest gratitude for the show of respect, greetings and praise that I’ve received in recent days which give me strength to reciprocate through ideas,” wrote Castro in an article titled “The Birthday” published by Cuban official media.

In the article, the former head of Cuba reminisced about his childhood and youth on a family plantation in eastern Cuba, his father’s death and the revolution he led that overthrew U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959.

Castro also wrote about the importance of preserving peace, saying “no power has the right to kill millions of people,” which was regarded as apparent criticism of his old foe, the United States.

He mentioned China and Russia as “great powers that cannot be subjected to threats of deploying nuclear weapons.”

Recalling his half-a-century confrontation with the United States, the leader wrote in the article: “I almost laughed at the Machiavellian plans of U.S. presidents.”

According to Cuban intelligence agencies, the revolutionary leader faced more than 600 plots, including assassination attempts, from his foes since he took power in 1959 after the Cuban revolution till his retirement in 2008.

NATIONWIDE BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS

To commemorate his birthday, cultural and recreational activities are being held throughout the country.

A gala in honor of the birthday was held Saturday evening at the Karl Marx theater in Havana. Castro made a rare public appearance but did not give a speech.

Dressed in a white Puma tracksuit and green shirt, the old Cuban leader was accompanied by his brother, President Raul Castro, and his regional ally Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Over 5,000 spectators attended the gala broadcast live on television and gave him a standing ovation, chanting “Fidel, Fidel, Fidel” and “Congratulations, father.”

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