HAVANA: Former Cuba leader Fidel Castro marked his 89th birthday Thursday by insisting the United States owes Cuba “many millions of dollars” because of the half-century-old American trade embargo.
Fidel Castro has published an open letter to the nation in which he makes no mention of the historic reopening of the US embassy.
Mr Castro instead criticises American foreign and economic policies since World War Two and accuses the US of owing Cuba millions of dollars.
Castro, who handed power to his brother Raul in 2008 because of failing health, met with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and Bolivian President Evo Morales, both staunch supporters of Havana’s Communist government.
The US embassy will be reopened in Havana on Friday, with US Secretary of State John Kerry attending.
Mr Castro said the US owed Cuba money because of the trade embargo the US imposed on the communist-run island in 1960.
After leading the Cuban Revolution of 1959, Fidel Castro drew Cuba into alliance with the Soviet Union, leading to decades of confrontation with the United States. Suffering from ill health, he stepped down provisionally in 2006 and definitively in 2008.
