Cuba marks 60th anniversary of revolution's start
President Raul Castro was expected to speak at the ceremony in the eastern city of Santiago.
HAVANA (AP) - Cuba on Friday commemorated the 60th anniversary of Fidel Castro s failed attack on a military army barracks that is considered the beginning of the Cuban Revolution.
President Raul Castro was expected to speak at the ceremony in the eastern city of Santiago. Thousands were in the audience in a sun-splashed square outside the Moncada barracks, still visibly scarred with bullet holes from the doomed assault.
The July 26 holiday is sometimes used to make major announcements.
Raul Castro, Fidel s younger brother, took up the reins of the country in 2006 and is pushing a series of social and economic reforms, including relaxed restrictions on foreign travel and a limited opening for small private and cooperative enterprise on the island.
Several heads of state from friendly nations attended the anniversary including Venezuela s Nicolas Maduro, Bolivia s Evo Morales, Uruguay s Jose Mujica and Nicaragua s Daniel Ortega.
In speeches, the leaders vowed solidarity with Cuba, railed against U.S. "imperialism" and said the Cuban Revolution inspired armed and political uprisings in their own nations.
"The banners of rebellion from Moncada are still relevant," said Maduro, whose nation provides billions of dollars a year in greatly subsidized oil to Cuba.
Fidel and Raul Castro and more than 100 rebels attacked the Moncada barracks on July 26, 1953, but were overwhelmed by the forces of strongman Fulgencio Batista.
The brothers were imprisoned and later released. After a time in exile in Mexico, they returned and resumed the rebellion that ultimately resulted in Batista s ouster in 1959.
