Cuba's frail Castro stays away from anti-US parade

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

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

But he did not appear on the podium to watch over hundreds of thousands marching through the square, carrying photos of Castro and chanting ''Fidel, Fidel''. It was the first May Day parade he has missed in almost four decades.

Cuba's main union leader, Salvador Valdes, said the nation hoped Castro, 80, would be well again soon.

''I know I express the unanimous feeling of our people when I send the most fervent wishes for recovery to he who has not only been with us on days like this but has guided us with his proverbial wisdom for more than 50 years,'' Valdes said.

Many marchers were disappointed by Castro's absence and some fear he will never regain the strength he had shown until he fell seriously ill last July.

Dissidents said Castro's absence showed he is still a sick man.

''This was an important event and his non presence says a lot,'' said Oscar Espinosa Chepe, who served almost two years in prison before he was released in late 2004.

Even if Castro is recovering, a two-hour parade under a scorching sun would have been a grueling and possibly dangerous return to public life.

''He shouldn't hurry. He must get better because we need him healthy,'' said Cuba's only cosmonaut, Brig Gen Arnaldo Tamayo, at the parade.

Castro's closest allies had done most to raise expectations that he might return today.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said his political idol was already back ''in charge'' in Cuba, and Bolivian President Evo Morales said he was sure Castro would reappear on May 1.

In an editorial column released late yesterday, Castro gave no indication he would attend but told Cubans to protest the recent release from a U.S. prison of Luis Posada Carriles, an anti-Castro exile and former CIA operative accused of killing 73 people in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner.

SECRECY Castro handed power to Raul Castro, his younger brother and defense minister, after undergoing intestinal surgery in July.

Since then, Cubans have seen him only in photographs or video footage meeting allies. Chavez said his friend almost died, although he and Cuban officials now say Castro is recovering and helping take decisions.

Recent footage showed Castro had put on weight, but was still frail. His long absence and government secrecy over his illness have cast uncertainty over Cuba's political future.

Raul Castro, 75, presided over today's parade in his olive green military uniform but did not make a speech.

The Communist Party, unions and neighborhood groups organize major marches and all Cubans are expected to attend.

As marchers paraded through Havana today, many pledged loyalty to the man they call ''El Comandante'' for leading a 1959 revolution and setting up communist rule on the island just 145 km from the United States.

''This is the unconditional support for the Comandante's ideas,'' said Eduardo Jimenez, a 19-year-old student.

Regardless of their views of communist rule, many Cubans were angered when Posada Carriles was freed from a New Mexico jail on April 19. Cuba blamed Washington for his release and said it showed the hypocrisy of its declared war on terrorism.

There was a strong anti-US feel to the parade of union workers and their families. One placard read ''Bush, murderer, president of world terrorism.''editing by Eric Beech; Editing by Sandra Maler.

REUTERS SY KN2130