Havana, Aug 14 (IANS): Cuba's revolutionary leader Fidel Castro made a rare public appearance on Saturday alongside his brother, President Raul Castro, during a gala in honour of his 90th birthday at the Karl Marx theatre in Havana.

The leader appeared just after 6 p.m. local time, dressed in his usual tracksuit, Xinhua quoted the official daily Granma as saying.

Over 5,000 spectators attended the gala broadcast live on television and gave him a standing ovation.

Dignitaries such as President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela were in attendance for a show filled with performances reflecting the philosophy of Fidel and Cuban independence hero, Jose Marti.

Prensa Latina, the Cuban state news agency, said that important figures of Cuba's revolutionary past were in the audience, including survivors of the attack on the Moncada Barracks on July 26, 1953 and of the journey on the Granma yacht, which brought Fidel back to Cuba on December 2, 1956, to fight against the dictatorship against Fulgencio Batista.