Raúl Castro, at 94 years old, presided over the central ceremony for International Workers' Day on José Martí Anti-imperialist Tribune, in front of the United States Embassy along the Malecón in Havana, marking his first public appearance in five months, with a noticeable physical decline that drew attention.
The army general wore an olive green military uniform adorned with medals and was accompanied by President Miguel Díaz-Canel, along with other regime figures such as Lis Cuesta, Bruno Rodríguez, and Roberto Morales Ojeda, before a crowd that Cuban authorities estimated at over half a million people.
The last time Castro appeared in public was on December 2, 2025, when he attended the final session of the National Assembly and was described as "fragile and having difficulties walking."
Before that, on August 13, 2025, during the event for Fidel Castro's 99th birthday in Birán, he had already been described as "visibly fragile" and required assistance to move, according to images broadcast by Cuban television.
In March 2026, Castro was absent from the 9th Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, where Díaz-Canel was ratified as first secretary, which reignited rumors about his health.
It was Díaz-Canel himself who, in an interview with Telesur in April 2026, acknowledged that Raúl Castro is "alive but retired for health reasons" and is "fragile due to his advanced age."
Despite this, the regime presented him this Friday as the "leader of the Revolution" and the central figure of the event, on a day when the official account of the Presidency of Cuba published: "In the year of the Centenary of Fidel, alongside the Army General and leader of the Cuban Revolution, Raúl Castro Ruz, the Party, the Government, and mass organizations led the events."
The event was moved from the Plaza de la Revolución to the Anti-Imperialist Tribunal — inaugurated in 2000 during the Elián González case — under the slogan "The Homeland is Defended," as part of the "Year of Preparation for Defense" declared by the Cuban government.
The statement responded to remarks made by President Donald Trump on March 28, 2026, in Miami, where he stated that "sometimes military force must be used, and Cuba is next."
The day before the event, children were taken out of schools in San Miguel del Padrón and Santiago de Cuba to participate in pre-marches, and the independent journalist Ángel Cuza was arrested in front of his daughter on April 30.
Workers from 15 unions began marching at dawn from four locations in Havana: 23 and 2, Avenida Salvador Allende and Infanta, Parque Antonio Maceo, and Prado-Malecón.
In April, Castro also sent a letter to military personnel of the Eastern Army with messages of resistance, marking one of his rare signs of activity before this reappearance.
The last time the regime had managed to show Raúl Castro active at an official event was in October 2025, when he led a meeting of the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, amidst rumors about his health that Díaz-Canel himself has not been able to fully dispel.
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