Posted on 08/13/2003 2:02:36 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
HAVANA (AFP) - The world's longest-serving head of government, Cuban President Fidel Castro, is to turn 77, still holding out against capitalism as he faces a deepening economic crisis and international isolation.
"We are a socialist country, and we will continue to be socialist," he said in a recent speech.
"Despite enormous obstacles, we are building a new and more humane society with more experience, enthusiasm, strength and dreams than ever," added Castro, who has led the only one-party communist country in the Americas for more than half his life.
Born August 13, 1926 in Biran, the son of an immigrant landowner from Spain and a housekeeper, Castro has become the sole leader in the western world convinced that communism is the only way "to achieve a society one thousand times more just and more humane than the rotten system" of his traditional enemy, the United States, and his new source of headaches, the European Union.
Birthday time will not be a time for flashy public celebrations, however; Castro has never cared for such public events for himself. Indeed, Cuba is utterly devoid of statues, signs, billboards and photographs of the leader who has been at Cuba's helm since January 1959.
But while Castro insists there is no "cult of personality," warmest wishes are pouring in all over state-controlled media. The weekly "Tribuna de la Habana" on Sunday glowed: "We see in you the defender of the humble, ... a paragon of tenacity, a rebel and strategist, a good father of immeasurable wisdom and optimism."
The newspaper of the workers union, "Trabajadores," did not mention the birthday but took the occasion to praise Castro as "our secret weapon, holding the soul of a nation, in one word: Fidel."
State press agency AIN wished Castro a long life and hailed him as a "modern Don Quijote."
As in years gone by, Castro will most likely make a public appearance opening a new school, or handing out diplomas to newly minted physicians, moving forward with the "profound and transcendental" Revolution on which he and Cuba embarked more than 40 years ago.
The daring and vigorous attorney-turned-rebel who marched into Havana decades ago today still sports his trademark olive drab military gear for most political occasions. But the hair and emblematic beard are now gray, the feet drag a bit, and the pace of Castro's legendarily lengthy speeches has slowed.
Rumors about his health, a taboo subject, swirl regularly.
Rather than avoid the subject, Castro faces it head-on. He insists the Revolution will live on without him. And a few months back he stressed that "my destiny was not to come into the world to rest at the end of my life."
"You have to have passions and dreams," he said recently, but "life has inexorable laws." He promised to stay on as president "until nature itself decides, not a minute less and not a second longer."
His frenetic work schedule still includes statistics-laden addresses that go on for hours; meetings with visiting heads of state, politicians and others from the early hours of the morning to the wee hours of the following day; and personal supervision of the implementation of government programs in education and heath care.
But this ideal society concept does not mesh with a complicated and crumbling reality. After 40 years of communism, more than 11 million Cubans do not have their basic needs met.
Housing shortages hit crisis levels years ago. Insufficient subsidized food supplies, combined with low salaries that make purchasing nonsubsidized food prohibitive for most, are dawn-to-dusk frustrations for millions.
Limits on personal freedoms also take their toll, and these are just the beginning of problems facing Cuba's revolution.
The economy is limping, as a tough US economic embargo, combined with a rigid communist bureaucracy here, less tourism and sliding international prices for top export sectors sugar and nickel, have slammed the brakes on growth.
Castro's regime "tends to substitute reality with its own vision ... in a sort of political schizophrenia, an ideological unconciousness that makes it lose all sense of reality," said prominent dissident Elizardo Sanchez.
That "is an enormous obstacle" to potential reforms," he told AFP.
The Cuban president drew fire from nearly all corners abroad when in April a tough crackdown against dissidents rounded up 75 of his political opponents and sentenced them to up to 28 years in prison. Then, three people who tried to hijack a commuter ferry to get to the United States faced swift summary trials and execution.
Cuban President Fidel Castro smiles in this file photo during a political rally in Havana, June 7, 2003. Castro will be 77 on August 13, determined to defend one of the world's last Communist societies, but after half a century on the international stage, Castro has lost friends and allies and is facing increasing isolation. REUTERS/Claudia Daut
Hugo Chavez - Venezuela will be sending his wishes. Castro spent his last birhtday being entertained by Chavez. 
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