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Cuba will mark the 50th anniversary on Saturday of the initial assault that launched its revolution with growing uncertainty over the health of the country's leader and the political future of the island. President Fidel Castro , who will be 77 in August, was expected to speak at a rally, which could help dispel recent rumors that he was ill.

Cuban children re-enact the attack on the Moncada miltary barracks as they celebrate the 50th anniversary of the frustrated action lead by Fidel Castro, Saturday July 26,2003 in Santiago de Cuba, eastern Cuba. Castro's plan was to overpower the Moncada Barracks in Santiago which was was at the time Cuba's second largest fort. The attack on the barracks lacked the element of surprise and ended with most of Castro's men being killed or arrested. Fifty years later, Moncada is now a school. Its bulletriddled walls serve as a reminder to future generations that the revolution began here on 26 July 1953. (AP Photo/Jose Goitia)