Cuba's Castro stays away from anti-US parade

HAVANA, May 1 (Reuters) Cuban leader Fidel Castro today stayed away from the start of a May Day workers parade apparently still too weak to appear in public nine months after emergency surgery forced him to step aside as president.

Castro had called on all Cubans to turn the parade into a massive anti-US protest and, after recent video footage showed him looking stronger, there was speculation that he might make a triumphant appearance in Revolution Square.

But he was not on the main podium as the parade began.

REUTERS KD HT1802