Castro recovery lifts Cuban government's spirits

By Anthony Boadle

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban leader Fidel Castro was not strong enough to appear at the annual May Day workers rally, a highlight of the communist calendar, but his recovery from a life-threatening intestinal disorder is already being felt.

Party leaders are looking self-assured again as evidence mounts that the man who has run Cuba since a 1959 revolution has survived his health crisis and the country has seen no upheaval during his nine-month absence.

Even without Castro by their side, smiling Communist Party leaders waved confidently from above a high podium at half a million Cubans who marched through Havana's Revolution Square on Tuesday to show support for acting president Raul Castro.

The upbeat mood contrasted with the sombre atmosphere at a military parade that Castro failed to attend in December when he is thought to have been at death's door.

While it is not clear what role Castro will take, officials insist he is recovering steadily and will resume governing at some point.

Most Cuba watchers see the man who once decided almost every detail of Cuban life --from milk production to shoe imports-- settling into the role of an elder statesman involved in major policy issues but not running day-to-day government.

"At this point it seems that Fidel Castro is more useful to the regime as a father figure or inspirational leader, while the actual management of the government will be left to his successors," said Dan Erikson, an expert on Cuba at the Inter-American Dialogue think tank in Washington.

"Raul Castro has now had plenty of practice in managing major events in Fidel's absence, and they feel no pressure to have Fidel speak until he is 100% ready," he said.