A military parade marking the 80th birthday of Fidel Castro ended today without the appearance of the ailing leader Cuban leader.
Tanks rolled through the streets and jets roared overhead in Havana's first military parade in a decade.
Hundreds of thousands of flag-waving Cubans marched past a reviewing stand in Revolution Square in salute to the aging comandante.
Mr Castro's failure to appear at the event marking his 80th birthday and the 50th anniversary of the start of the revolution that put him in power had already accelerated speculation that his 47-year rule is coming to an end.
"It means he will not return to power, that's for sure. Otherwise he would have made it," said a European diplomat who attended the parade but asked not to be identified.
Castro has not been seen in public since emergency surgery in late July that forced him to temporarily turn over power to his brother Raul Castro.
He has appeared feeble in the few photos and videos released by the government.
Raul Castro addressed the several thousand people gathered in Revolution Square, but said nothing about his brother's condition or absence. He quoted from a past Fidel speech, praised the Cuban people for their "maturity" the past four months and at the end shouted "Viva Fidel."