The ailing Fidel Castro was not well enough to attend the kickoff Tuesday of his 80th birthday celebrations, attended by hundreds of admirers who traveled here to fete him.
A government worker at the gala launch of the five-day birthday bash read a message which he said came from the Cuban leader. It said Castro's doctors had told him he was not in condition to go to the party at Havana's Karl Marx Theater where about 5,000 well-wishers gathered.
"I direct myself to you, intellectuals and prestigious personalities of the world, with a dilemma," said the note.
"I could not meet with you in a small locale, only in the Karl Marx Theater where all the visitors would fit and I was not yet in condition, according to the doctors, to face such a colossal encounter," it added. The reading of the message was broadcast live on state television.
The crowd, which included hundreds of guests from other countries and thousands of Cubans, responded with a standing ovation.
More than 1,300 politicians, artists and intellectuals from around the globe were expected to pay homage to the man who governed the communist-run island for 47 years.
Presidents Evo Morales of Bolivia and Rene Preval of Haiti have confirmed they will attend the celebrations along with former Ecuadorean President Rodrigo Borja and Nicaraguan President-elect Daniel Ortega.
Also expected are Colombian Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel, an Argentine human rights activist.
Oh, and get this:
Noticeably absent will be Castro's good friend and political ally Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who is up for re-election Dec. 3. In his absence, Chavez promised to dedicate his electoral victory to Castro.
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