Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro turned 84on Friday, and Cubans celebrated the birthday with a series of cultural events on streets.

Castro said in one of his articles that he was still "full of energy."

"I have not changed," Castro wrote in the article published by local media. "I will be faithful to the principles and ethics that I have practiced since I became a revolutionary."

Castro was born in the eastern village of Biran in 1926. He ruled the island for 48 years after the 1959 revolution, and handed over power to his brother Raul four years ago for health reasons.

However, Fidel Castro returned to public life on July 7, and has participated in at least a dozen events highlighting the danger of imminent global nuclear war.

Cuban media covered Castro's birthday extensively on Friday. The official newspaper Granma run a story about Castro's birthplace of the Biran village, about 750 km east of Havana.

The report said the house-museum of Castro has been visited by nearly 250,000 Cubans and 50,000 foreigners over the past eight years.