Cuba marks Castro’s 100th birthday amid worst crisis

The Story in Brief

Cuba's Communist Party is marking Fidel Castro's 100th birth anniversary with exhibitions, concerts, and conferences. But the celebrations, on August 13, come during one of the worst crises in living memory. Acute shortages of food and water, chronic power cuts, and soaring prices have left many Cubans questioning the socialist revolution's promises.

Supporters like Leonel Suarez, 54, revere Castro as "the master" who would have a strategy for such hardship. Others, like historian Manuel Cuesta, see Castro as the "original architect of this national disaster." The social contract forged by the revolution, social protections in exchange for political discipline, has eroded. Many ordinary Cubans, while still affectionate toward the comandante, say life today is a struggle that Castro's era did not witness.