Latin American singers honor Fidel Castro at 85

Nearly two dozen singers and musicians from nine Latin American nations honored Fidel Castro with a concert Friday on the eve of the former Cuban leader's 85th birthday.

Dubbed the "Serenade to Fidelity," the spectacle was a "homage to the life of a man, of a people, of a nation and of a revolution," the Communist Party newspaper Granma said.

"It will be little compared to what he deserves," said Alfredo Vera of Ecuador's Guayasamin Foundation, which helped organize the event, as the concert got under way.

Neither Fidel nor his younger brother, President Raul Castro, was at the concert, which saw many of Cuba's other leaders attend, including Vice President Jose Ramon Machado Ventura.

Fidel Castro has been out of power since 2006, when he was stricken with a nearly fatal intestinal illness and temporarily ceded the presidency to his brother Raul. The elder Castro permanently renounced the presidency in 2008.

Castro is rarely seen in public these days, and he seemed unsteady on his feet when he made a showing at a Communist Party Congress in April, walking to his seat with the help of an aide. At that same gathering, the party named a leadership council without him on it for the first time in five decades, leaving Fidel Castro with no official position.