FILE PHOTO OF CUBAN LEADER CASTRO WITH THE POPE

Weeks after a dramatic collapse focused world attention on his health and time left in power, Cuban President Fidel Castro will turn 75 years-old on August 13, 2001 looking well-recovered and as active as ever in his four-decade rule. Castro, who seized power in a 1959 revolution to later become a communist icon and one of the world's longest-serving rulers, traditionally keeps a low profile on his birthday, in line with the discretion he prefers around his personal life. Castro stops to read his watch during Pope John Paul II's arrival ceremony at Jose Marti Airport in this January 21, 1998 file photo. REUTERS/Zoraida Diaz