Cuba's Fidel Castro a no-show at military parade

HAVANA, Dec 2 (Reuters) Tanks rolled through the streets and jets roared overhead today in Havana's first military parade in a decade, but ailing leader Fidel Castro did not appear at what had been viewed as a test of his political future.

Hundreds of thousands of flag-waving Cubans marched past a reviewing stand in Havana's Revolution Square in salute to the aging comandante who was nowhere to be seen, apparently too ill to attend.

His inability to show at the event marking his 80th birthday and the 50th anniversary of the start of the revolution that put him in power had already accelerated speculation that his 47-year rule of Cuba is coming to an end.

''It means he will not return to power, that's for sure.

Otherwise he would have made it,'' said a European diplomat who attended the parade but asked not to be identified.

Castro has not been seen in public since emergency surgery in late July that forced him to temporarily turn over power to his brother Raul Castro. He has appeared feeble in the few photos and videos released by the government.

Raul Castro addressed the several thousand people gathered in Revolution Square, but said nothing about his brother's condition or absence.

He quoted from a past Fidel speech, praised the Cuban people for their ''maturity'' the past four months and at the end shouted ''Viva Fidel.'' Cuban officials continue to insist Fidel Castro is recovering and will return to power, but analysts and diplomats believe he will be a figurehead at best if he survives his still-undisclosed illness.

COLD WAR ROOTS Castro is the last key player from the Cold War to remain in power, surviving the attempts of 10 U.S. presidents to get rid of him by force, assassination or economic pressure. His defiance of the hostile superpower and his international promotion of communism has made him a world figure far out of proportion to the size of his small nation of 11 million people.

Although many Cubans hope for economic change to improve their average salary of 15 dollars a month, they revere or respect Fidel Castro in many ways.

One spectator, a university professor named Martinez, said Fidel Castro's failure to appear was a bad sign.

''His absence is the best evidence that Fidel's health is very bad, very weak,'' he said.

Castro's health and questions about his future overshadowed the military display that experts say was meant as a show of muscle to anyone who thinks communist Cuba is vulnerable because of uncertainty about the man who has led it for 47 years.

The tanks and arms that rolled through the street were aging equipment provided by the Soviet Union before it collapsed in 1991.

The vehicles sent up clouds of smoke as they passed by and one stalled in front of the reviewing stand where Raul Castro and a host of dignitaries watched.

A fleet of helicopters and MiG jet fighters buzzed through a clear Havana sky.

The parade was as much an anti-United States rally as it was a tribute, or as some suggested a farewell, to Fidel Castro.

''Cuba si, Yankee no,'' the marchers shouted.

''Those weapons will never bow before the Empire,'' read a banner hanging in the square.

In his speech, Raul Castro blasted the United States for, among other things, its decades-long trade embargo and general hostility toward Cuba.

He did leave the door open to improving relations, saying, ''We take this opportunity to once again state that we are willing to resolve at the negotiating table the longstanding dispute between the United States and Cuba.'' REUTERS