Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro delivered a valedictory speech Tuesday to the Communist Party that he put in power a half-century ago, telling party members he is nearing the end of his life and exhorting them to help his ideas survive.
Fidel Castro has made what is likely to be his final speech to Cuba's Congress, telling the assembled politicians that he would die soon but that the revolution's ideals would live on.
And Fidel Castro said the time was approaching for a younger generation to take over. His declaration appeared to be less of an announcement that he was dying - he has been suffering from intestinal problems since the early 2000s - than a statement of obvious fact.
"Soon I will turn 90 years old, never would such a thing have occurred to me and it's not the outcome of any effort; it was fate's whim," Castro said, discussing his health, usually a taboo subject on the island. "Soon I will be like everyone else. To all of us comes our turn."
During this month's party congress, top Cuban officials echoed Castro's words, accusing Obama of trying to "seduce" Cuban youths and private entrepreneurs and that the United States is still Cuba's "enemy."