June 04, 2026
Cuba's former leader Raul Castro turned 95 on Wednesday, though his whereabouts were still unknown two weeks after US authorities charged him with murder in connection with the downing of civilian airplanes in 1996.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel early in the day praised Castro, who he said he considered to be a mentor and father figure, for his contributions to Cuba.
"To reach 95 years of age with one foot in the stirrup and an endless record of service to the Homeland, to regional and world peace... to the dreams of social justice of millions of human beings, is not his luck, it is ours," Diaz-Canel said.
But Castro - a key figure alongside older brother Fidel in the 1959 guerrilla war that toppled a US-backed dictator - is once again at the center of tensions with the United States.
