On 90th birthday, Fidel Castro thanks Cuba, criticizes Obama

Former Cuban President Fidel Castro turns 90 years old on Sunday, and in advance of the milestone, he wrote a letter published by the Cuban Communist Party’s official newspaper Granma.

Over 5,000 spectators attended the gala broadcast live on television and gave him a standing ovation.

Venezuelan leftist President Nicolas Maduro was seeing arriving in Cuba on Saturday and the presidents of Nicaragua, China and Bolivia extended their congratulations to Castro.

Castro answered to the honor by penning an Op-Ed which began by thanking the Cuban people who took part in the festivities.

“I want to express my deepest gratitude for the show of respect, greetings, and praise that I’ve received in recent days, which gave me strength to reciprocate with ideas that I will send to party militants and relevant organizations”, he wrote. “Of his three male children, the second and third were absent and distant, both fulfilling their duty in revolutionary activities”.

“I nearly laughed about the Machiavellian plans of the U.S. presidents”, he wrote.

In Saturday’s letter, he criticizes Obama for not apologizing to the Japanese people during a May trip to Hiroshima, describing Obama’s speech there as “lacking stature”.

“He lacked the words to ask for forgiveness for the killings of hundreds of thousands of people”, Mr Castro wrote.

Ties between the United States and Cuba have been restored under Raul Castro’s presidency, but after a visit by Mr Obama to Havana in March, Fidel Castro wrote that “we don’t need the empire to give us anything”. For a time, many even speculated that he had died and his brother Raul was keeping it a secret for fear that the news might incite a new Cuban Revolution overthrowing the nearly six-decade-old one-party system the Castro brothers have historically controlled. Considered more pragmatic, the younger Castro is credited with implementing a detente with the U.S. after a half century of frozen confrontation, introducing market-style reforms to invigorate the state-dominated economy and increasing personal freedoms, such as the right to travel overseas.

The younger Castro also introduced market-style reforms to the state-dominated economy and increased personal freedoms.