Castro himself kept out of the spotlight on his birthday, presumably resting from a recent grueling Caribbean tour and preparing for trips to the Dominican Republic and South Africa.

But Cuba's state-run media, youth organisations and unions ensured the date was celebrated thoroughly, albeit with the discretion Castro likes to maintain around his personal life.

"How could we not join in the congratulations of millions of Cubans?" said Communist Party daily Granma in an article setting the tone for the day's events.

Dogged by ill-health rumours in recent years, Castro has denied the reports and kept up a hectic schedule so far in 1998, entertaining a stream of high-profile foreign visitors in Havana from Pope John Paul II to supermodel Naomi Campbell, and travelling to Europe and within the Caribbean.

Granma's lyrical report on his birthday included a photo of a beaming Castro surrounded by the masses but did not mention his name. The paper invoked Cuba's 19th century independence hero Jose Marti — Castro's self-proclaimed spiritual leader — to hail Castro as "the most advanced of the Apostle's pupils." "How could we not dedicate a few lines on this date to he who has dedicated more than 50 years of his life for the good of the fatherland, to raise a people's honour and dignity to the highest peak, to teach us what is real independence, real sovereignty, real democracy, real human rights, real solidarity and internationalism?" asked Granma writer Susana Lee.

Born on Aug. 13, 1926, in a small hamlet of eastern Cuba to a comfortably-off Galician-born farmer and a Cuban woman of humble stock, Castro took power on Jan. 1, 1959, after a bloody guerrilla war against former dictator Fulgencio Batista.

In the subsequent decades, he has outlasted eight U.S. presidents in power, survived Washington's 36-year economic embargo on Cuba and the collapse of his Soviet allies, borne long periods of international isolation, and beaten off an invasion attempt and numerous assassination plots against him.

Away from the official activities, Cubans expressed a mixture of feelings for Castro on his birthday. While most gave him credit as a strong and charismatic leader, many said it was time he allowed greater political change on the island, and others railed at Castro as the cause of the nation's economic woes.

"Happy Birthday? Maybe for him. Not for me!" moaned a young law student in a Havana shop who identified himself as Rigoberto. "If I could get a job that paid more than 200 pesos ($20 per month), if I could buy a new pair of shoes, if I was allowed to travel and see the world, then it might be a happy birthday." State television ushered in Castro's birthday at midnight with patriotic music accompanying a collage of images of the Cuban leader with women, children and workers.

Elsewhere, the Communist Youth movement said thousands of its members were dedicating a day's voluntary work in the sugar-fields to their "commander" Castro.

State-controlled unions sent messages of congratulations to Castro, one wishing "good health to the maximum leader of the Revolution so he may keep winning victory after victory in the socialist construction of the Fatherland." And the national Pioneers children's organisation held low-profile parties across the island. In Havana, for example, about 300 children gathered at the Pioneers' Palace in Lenin Park — under a banner saying "72 rays of sun" — to see a clown show and cut a huge cake with the number 72 on it.