Missing were the blistering, anti-imperialist tirades that Fidel Castro, now 88 and retired as president, once made a staple of July 26, the date of the attack on the Moncada barracks in Santiago, a city on the eastern end of Cuba some 800 km from Havana.
Current Cuban President Raul Castro has generally softened his critique since reaching detente with U.S. President Barack Obama last December.