Today is Fidel Castro’s 83rd birthday, a day he marked not with celebration (indeed, the state organized no official events for the occasion) but with an essay on the global economic crisis, climate change and immigration. He wonders in his piece whether the crisis might mean the end of imperialism or the beginning of something even worse.
The Cuban state commemorated his birthday with a photo exhibit dedicated to Castro, which opened yesterday. The feature is a photo of the former president that curators called “recent” (shown above), taken by Fidel’s photographer son Alex. It shows Fidel looking much healthier than other photos taken of him since his 2006 surgery.
For three years, photos have been the only gauge of his health, since details of his current condition are a state secret and he has not been seen in public during this post-surgery period.