Reinventing Fidel Castro

This report was written by CBS News Havana Producer Portia Siegelbaum.

Instead of being stuck in a sick bed, the Cuban president was walking, talking in public and sharing birthday cake with his most intimate friends. Colombian novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez, his good buddy, toasted to his health at the luxurious home of Cuban poet Pablo Armando Fernandez.

Fernandez has many photos taken from that night and in some, the collar of a sports shirt can be seen peeking out from under the Cuban leader's ubiquitous olive green fatigues. As the sultry evening wore on, says Fernandez, image-conscious Castro removed his uniform jacket but didn't allow any more pictures to be taken of him.

Still, there are photos of him cutting a miniscule cake and watching TV surrounded by the same men he dubbed just two weeks ago to temporarily fill in for him while he recovers from intestinal surgery. The people who he named to take over for him were here that afternoon, Felipe Perez Roque (Foreign Minister), Carlos Lage (Vice-President), Jose Ramon Balaguer (Minister of Health).

Fernandez, 77, met Castro five decades ago in New York when the young rebel went abroad to raise money for his battle against the Batista regime. Fernandez, then with two published books under his belt and a solid income from his wife's business, was trapped by what many describe as the Castro "charisma." To this day, Fernandez considers himself a loyal Fidelista although he never joined Castro's Communist Party.

"Fidel was handsome, wealthy, educated, cultured. He could have had the best life on earth. And what did he do in 1953? He tried to save the Cuban people, to restore that voice and that face that was lost. And, he risked his life," explains Fernandez, his voice still conveying amazement.

This August's planned festivities have been postponed for five months, but still an air of expectation hangs over the island.

Cubans are wondering if President Fidel Castro, or at least a message from him, will be broadcast by state-owned TV as the longest running head of state marks his 80th birthday.

A concert Saturday evening in the "Anti-Imperialist Tribune" across from the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana, billed as "A Cantata for the Homeland," brings together 83 artists from different generations to show that the Castro magic works as much with young people as it does with those who made the revolution.

Sponsored in part by the young communists' organization, the event represents one more government-organized effort to project an image of unity in the face of what Cuban leaders see as a "threat from the United States."

Officials in Washington have repeatedly denied any intention of intervening militarily in Cuba. "Our desire is for the Cuban people to choose their own form of government," President George W. Bush said in Crawford, Texas.

On Sunday, in a tradition harking back to the early days of the Revolution, sugar industry workers will head for the cane fields for a morning of voluntary work. Again, the foreign press has been invited to attend this photo op that shows everyone pulling together at a difficult moment.

One of Cuba's better known dissidents, Oswaldo Paya of the Christian Liberation Movement, worries about a backlash against Castro's critics in a society that has long been intolerant of political opposition. Just a block from his home, government supporters painted a sign that equates dissidents with "traitors" and across from his living room window hangs another that depicts revolutionaries crushing a "worm," the term commonly used to refer to the opposition.

"The wisest course for the country, the best and most just for the people of Cuba is, in first place, to maintain the social peace, because any violence, any confrontation will bring grave consequences for the people of Cuba," he says.

Whether Fidel lives or dies is not the issue according to Paya. "The people of Cuba want changes, the people of Cuba need changes and not because Fidel Castro is ill."

Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo, who spent more than 20 years in Castro's jails, issued a statement entitled "On the Succession and the Future." While insisting that he and Castro "are at opposite ends of the political spectrum," Menoyo says change should not depend on Castro's death. "The participation of Fidel in the dialogue with the opposition would be very positive."

Pastor Pablo Oden, Episcopal rector of the Matanzas diocese attended a multi-denominational prayer vigil for Castro's recuperation. No foe of the communist government, Oden is suggesting that the island's religious leaders at the forefront of Cuba's civil society play a greater role in the post-Castro Cuba.

"We have a great responsibility in the teaching of our people especially regarding the values of the Christian faith regarding morals, ethics, and spirituality. We can make a great contribution in order that we can live in a greater democracy and a greater freedom in Cuba even after Fidel."

Incongruent as it may seem, Fidel Castro — the professed atheist — once sought out Oden at the pulpit. It was after the Elian Gonzalez custody fight and the Episcopal rector, who had been part of the team working for his return, had been left off the guest list at a public ceremony honoring the boy's father. When Castro learned of the oversight he personally attended a church organized event to honor Oden. "I'll never forget it," he says.

"You know Fidel is not a Christian. Everybody knows that but he is a man of faith, he has a great faith in history, a grand faith in Cuban people, great faith in the revolution. I should say his faith is not a religious faith. But Fidel is a man of big faith in many things and that is what makes him a very, very big man for this country" concludes Oden.

Since Castro fell ill, everyone here seems to be dredging up a personal story that involves the 80-year-old Castro, tainting him in their own likeness. This not only expands the myth that has surrounded him for the half-century that he has been on the world political stage, but forces people to reflect on the impact — good or bad — this one man has had on an island of 11 million.