HAVANA—Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro said Tuesday that he was not well enough to attend a gala kicking off five days of celebrations of his 80 years.
Castro, who has not appeared in public since he underwent intestinal surgery in late July, said in a message that was read out to 5,000 supporters from dozens of countries that doctors had not allowed him to attend the packed event in Havana's Karl Marx theater.
"It was only in the Karl Marx Theater that all guests could be seated but, according to the doctors, I was not yet ready for such a challenging engagement," he said in the message.
"I bid you farewell with great sorrow for not being able to personally thank you and embrace every one of you," he ended.
Castro's birthday was Aug. 13 but he postponed celebrations after undergoing emergency surgery for an undisclosed illness that forced him to hand over power temporarily to his brother Raul in late July.
Questions about whether he would be well enough to appear this week have dominated the run up to celebrations that some guests said feel more like a farewell than a birthday bash.
The leftist who seized power in a 1959 revolution could still make a brief appearance at the closing event, a military parade in Havana's Revolution Square where workers are erecting an elevated platform.
But, after the release Oct. 28 of a video that showed a gaunt, shuffling Castro, many Cubans believe he is too old and too ill to resume governing.
For four months, the low-key Raul Castro—the world's longest serving defense minister—has run the country with few speeches and less fanfare than his brother.
Government sources say the acting president has been very active holding dozens of meetings, trying to shore up the communist government and come to grips with Cuba's overwhelming economic problems.
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