Cuba's Fidel Castro gives a rare speech on the final day of the country's Communist Party congress Tuesday April 19,2016

The leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, has given a rare speech on the final day of the country's Communist Party congress on Tuesday April 19,2016

“I’ll be 90 years old soon,” Castro said in his most extensive public appearance in years. “Soon I’ll be like all the others. The time will come for all of us, but the ideas of the Cuban Communists will remain as proof on this planet that if they are worked at with fervor and dignity, they can produce the material and cultural goods that human beings need, and we need to fight without a truce to obtain them.”

The former president, 89, acknowledged his advanced age but said Cuban communist concepts were still valid and the Cuban people "will be victorious".

It was earlier announced that Cuba's President, Raul Castro, would remain party chief for another five years.

Raul Castro, who himself is 84, is due to step down as president in 2018.

But in Cuba the role of Party secretary is considered just as powerful as president, so his announcement that he had been re-elected for another five years was significant.