Raúl Castro, 95, reappears at Cuban military ceremony after health rumors

Raúl Castro, 95, has reappeared in public at a Cuban military ceremony after recent rumors about his health. The former president attended an event marking the anniversary of the Personal Security Directorate, the armed forces unit responsible for protecting the country’s top leaders, including Castro himself.

State television broadcast more than 10 minutes of unusual footage from the Saturday night ceremony. Castro appeared in his familiar olive-green military uniform, walking alongside senior officers before taking a front-row seat in a closed hall. He stood several times to receive a commemorative diploma and greet those attending.

His appearance drew attention because Castro rarely appears in public. He no longer holds formal positions in the government or the powerful Communist Party, and he had been absent for the first time in decades from the July event marking the assault on the Moncada Barracks, one of the central anniversaries of the Cuban Revolution.

President Miguel Díaz-Canel posted photographs from the event on X and wrote: “It is an honor to participate with Army General Raúl Castro in the ceremony marking the 65th anniversary of the Directorate of Personal Security.” Castro had last been seen publicly on August 13 in Havana, at a ceremony marking the centenary of his brother Fidel Castro’s birth. He attended that event with Díaz-Canel and Communist Party leaders, sitting beside Fidel’s widow, Dalia Soto del Valle. Raúl Castro became interim president in 2006, formally assumed the office in 2008, and was succeeded by Díaz-Canel in April 2018.

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It is an honor to participate with Army General Raúl Castro in the ceremony marking the 65th anniversary of the Directorate of Personal Security.