Fidel Castro turns 90 today

Fidel Castro greeted his 80th birthday from his sickbed, gripping a newspaper to show he was alive two weeks after stepping down as president.

For the next 10 years, the leader of the Cuban revolution watched from home as his brother Raul granted Cubans new economic freedoms and declared detente with the US after half a century of hostility.

When Fidel Castro turns 90 today, the man who nationalised the Cuban economy and controlled virtually every aspect of life on the island will celebrate his birthday in a far different country than the one he ruled.