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HAVANA: With fireworks, outdoor speeches and a
message from their ailing iconic leader, Cubans late Tuesday
celebrated President Fidel Castro’s triumphal entry into Havana 49
years ago at the head of his revolution.
“I cannot forget that on a day
like today I had the honor of being welcomed by the people of this
capital 49 years ago,” Castro, 81, said in a statement read out on
television to mark the occasion.
Thousands of revelers gathered at
the La Punta Square opposite the Tres Reyes del Morro castle to see
the sky lit up by fireworks and attend cultural events on
“Illuminated by Victory” night organized by the Union of
Communist Youths (UJC).
As expected, the celebrations did
not include an appearance by Castro, who has only been seen on
television since he underwent gastrointestinal surgery in July 2006
and handed over power “temporarily” to his brother Raul, 76.
A power boat crisscrossed Havana
Bay pulling a huge lighted sign bearing “Viva Fidel,” on one
side, and “Viva Raul” on the other.
“Cuba’s youth makes a gift of
this event to all Cuba. We’ll light up the city like [Castro’s]
victory lit up our people forever 49 years ago,” UJC chief Cesar
Hernandez told a cheering crowd.
On January 1, 1959 Castro and his
communist guerrillas overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista
(1952 to 1958) and took a triumphal, weeklong tour of the country
from east to west with his men that ended in Havana, where he took
power.
--AFP
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