Cuba marks 50th anniversary of Castro revolution

By Jeff Franks

SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba (Reuters) - Cuba celebrated on Thursday the 50th anniversary of a 1959 revolution whose leader Fidel Castro transformed the island into a communist state that has survived despite decades of opposition from the United States and the collapse of its Cold War benefactors.

The revolution's landmark anniversary comes at a time when the era of Fidel Castro, now 82 and in poor health, is winding down and uncertainty hangs over the future of the Cuba he built into an improbable world player admired for its social gains but criticized for its human rights record.

Celebrations have been subdued as Cuba is mired in economic problems and divided on what the revolution has achieved.

Raul Castro, who officially replaced his older brother as president in February, was to speak on Thursday evening in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba from the same balcony where Fidel Castro proclaimed victory after U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista fled on January 1, 1959.

Fidel Castro has not been seen in public since undergoing intestinal surgery in mid-2006 and was not expected to attend. But in a brief message on the front page of Communist Party newspaper Granma on Thursday, he sent his congratulations to "our heroic people" for 50 years of revolution.

Raul Castro said his speech would include a somber message that, 50 years on, many difficulties and much work lie ahead.

"There are many positive things, but at the same there are new problems that we have to confront. We haven't had peace, we haven't had tranquility," he said in a television interview.

Cuba was buffeted in 2008 by three hurricanes that caused $10 billion in damages and by the global financial crisis.