Havana, Aug 13 (EFE).– The United States owes Cuba millions of dollars for the harm caused by its economic embargo on the island, Fidel Castro wrote in an article published Thursday, the day before Secretary of State John Kerry is due in Havana to raise the Stars and Stripes over the restored U.S. Embassy.

“Cuba is owed compensation equivalent to the amount of damage done, which amounts to many millions of dollars as our country has shown with irrefutable arguments and data presented over the years to the United Nations,” the leader of the Cuban revolution wrote in an essay published on his 89th birthday.

In the text entitled “La Realidad y los Sueños” (Reality and Dreams), Fidel Castro said that Cuba will never stop “fighting for the peace and well-being of all human beings, regardless of the skin color and country of origin of every inhabitant on the planet.”

Fidel, who ceded power to younger brother Raul Castro in 2006 after being stricken with a serious illness, did not specifically mention the new phase of relations with Washington nor Kerry’s imminent arrival.

The U.S. and Cuba re-established diplomatic links last month after a rupture of more than five decades.

Kerry arrives in Cuba this Friday on the first visit by a U.S. secretary of state to the island since 1945.

Fidel Castro’s 89th birthday on Thursday is being celebrated in Cuba with a series of cultural events and tributes, some of which were already held on Wednesday to coincide with International Youth Day.

Bolivian President Evo Morales, an ally of the Cuban government, arrived Wednesday night on the island to be on hand for Fidel Castro’s birthday. EFE