(Xinhua photo)
HAVANA, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Cuba's revolutionary leader Fidel Castro made a rare public appearance Saturday alongside his brother, President Raul Castro, during a gala in honor of his 90th birthday at the Karl Marx theater in Havana.
The official daily Granma reported that the leader appeared just after 6 p.m. local time, dressed in his usual tracksuit. Over 5,000 spectators attended the gala broadcast live on television and gave him a standing ovation, chanting "Fidel, Fidel, Fidel" and "Congratulations, father."
Dignitaries such as President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela were in attendance for a show filled with performances reflecting the philosophy of Fidel and Cuban independence hero, Jose Marti.
Prensa Latina, the Cuban state news agency, said that important figures of Cuba's revolutionary past were in the audience, including survivors of the attack on the Moncada Barracks on July 26, 1953 and of the journey on the Granma yacht, which brought Fidel back to Cuba on Dec. 2, 1956, to fight against the dictatorship against Fulgencio Batista.
The show features a performance by La Colmenita, Cuba's Children's Theater Company, passages from the documentary "My Friend, Fidel" by director Santiago Alvarez, and from "Abdala", a play written by Jose Marti at the age of 16, Granma revealed.
