Low-key celebrations for Castro's 81st birthday

Fireworks exploded over Havana Bay and five Cuban agents imprisoned in the United States sent greetings as ailing leader Fidel Castro turned 81 today.

He spent his second consecutive birthday convalescing at an unknown location.

“Today we celebrate one more anniversary of the birthday of our Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro, who turned 81 and who will continue celebrating many more birthdays with Cuba and the world,” Havana resident Rosa Maria Suarez said in the early hours today, as she and hundreds of others stood on the Malecon sea front just after midnight to watch the fireworks marking Castro’s birthday and the end of Havana’s annual summer carnival.

From prisons in the United States, five Cuban agents serving long terms on espionage related charges sent greetings of their own, which were published in today’s Communist party newspaper Granma.