Cuban media Wednesday gave an extensive coverage of retired leader Fidel Castro on his 88th birthday, hailing him as a historic world figure.

From official daily Granma to sports news website Jit, news providers were filled with articles spotlighting Castro's achievements as a revolutionary fighter, statesman, Latin American leader and even sports promoter.

Granma carried no less than three articles on its front page on the iconic leader of the 1959 Cuban Revolution who went on to govern Cuba for some 50 years.

"Cubans and people from around the world who know of his tireless struggle for a more just humanity, have on each Aug. 13 one more reason to believe that a better world is truly possible," Granma wrote in an article on an exhibit of documentary photographs taken by Roberto Chile, who served as Castro's personal photographer for 25 years.

Taken between 2005 and 2012, the images will be on show until Sept. 13 in Havana, while a simultaneous exhibit in Berlin and Germany has already sold some of the prints, said gallery curator Ada Maria Pavia Arguelles.

In an article headlined "Nicolas Maduro underscores the genius of Fidel," Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro described the revolutionary leader as a "giant of history" who single-handedly kept the flame of socialism alive in Latin America.

The Cuban News Agency (ACN) reported on the presentation of a book entitled "The shared destiny of Latin America" as a gift to Castro.

In an article titled "Homage and Inspiration," sports website Jit reported on a nationwide workshop on Castro's contribution to the development of sports in Cuba, accompanied by black-and-white photographs of young Fidel in baseball uniform swinging a bat.

In Castro's birthplace Biran, in Holguin province, the site of his childhood home-turned-museum was renovated for the celebration.

Castro retired from power in 2006 following a life-threatening intestinal infection, but he occasionally writes on world affairs for Cuban dailies and continues to receive foreign dignitaries, including most recently Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, whom Castro called "one of the strongest and most capable revolutionary leaders I have ever met." Endi