Cuba celebrates 50 years of revolution

CUBA: On January 1, Cuba celebrates the 50th anniversary of its revolution, which ushered in decades of enmity with the United States, fueling one of the world's most enduring and defining geopolitical dramas.

One of the world's last left strongholds, Cuba faces uncertain "structural reforms" promised by President Raul Castro, 77, after he officially took over in February from his ailing older brother and revolutionary icon Fidel Castro, 82.

After defying no less than 10 US presidents, Fidel Castro has now become a role model for a new generation of leftist leaders in Latin America, including Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Bolivia's Evo Morales, both of whom may attend the celebrations in southeastern Santiago de Cuba, heart of the Castro insurrection.

Fidel Castro became Cuba's larger-than-life president after ousting dictator Fulgencio Batista in a long, hard-fought rebellion.

Together with a band of bedraggled revolutionaries including late Argentine icon Ernesto "Che" Guevara, Castro emerged from Cuba's rugged jungle on January 1, 1959, to seize control of the island.

An event is planned for the evening of January 1 in Cespedes Park to commemorate Castro's speech there 50 years ago that launched the revolution.

One month after the failed CIA-backed invasion of the Bay of Pigs, Castro's revolution took on Marxist overtones in May 1961.

With his ubiquitous cigar and trademark straggly beard, Castro became a symbol of resistance to US imperialism.

The "Comandante" successfully thumbed his nose at ten US presidents for five decades during which Washington made several covert attempts on his life.

"It would be supremely naive to believe that the good intentions of an intelligent person can change what has been created through centuries of interests and greed," Castro wrote in a letter to the Group of 20 major economic powers after the November 4 US election that brought the first African-American, Barack Obama, to the white House. Cubans are hoping for a thaw in US-Cuban relations after Democrat Obama is sworn into office on January 20, and better ties with the Cuban expatriate community.

Ernesto Caballo, who lives in the expatriate bastion of Miami, Florida, echoed some of the disappointment many Cuban exiles feel about their homeland.

"Things have changed here and we have not seen anything new in Cuba in 50 years of revolution," he told AFP.

Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo, who fell out with Fidel Castro and fled to the United States after serving 22 years in a Cuban jail, said the Cuban leader still believed in the revolution.

HAVANA, Wednesday, AFP