Havana - Cuban president Raul Castro said Saturday that the communist island will not "neglect" its defence regardless of who becomes the next US president after the November election.

"The defence will not be neglected regardless of the results of the next presidential elections in the United Sates," Castro said during the 55th anniversary of Fidel Castro's first attempt to topple Fulgencio Batista's dictatorship, the central festivity of the Cuban revolution.

It was the only direct reference to the United States that Raul Castro made during his speech, where he called on Cubans again to make efforts to save in order to confront the worldwide economic crisis.

Cuba has been very careful regarding the presidential elections in the US after strong confrontation with the current administration. The Democratic candidate, Barack Obama, said months ago he was ready under certain conditions to establish dialogue with the island.

Since Raul Castro assumed Cuba's government, temporarily first and as its formal president since last February, he has offered on various occasions an olive branch to Washington.

Last year also on July 26, he insisted on his offer, although he conditioned it to the end of George W Bush's administration.

"The new (US) administration will have to decide if it wants to keep the absurd, illegal and failed policy against Cuba or whether it accepts the olive branch that we offered," said Castro a year ago.

The historical Cuban leader Fidel Castro was again Saturday absent from the celebration. He was last seen in public at the same occasion two years ago. Five days later, on July 31 2006, he "temporarily" delegated powers on his younger brother Raul to recover from an undisclosed illness that made him resign earlier this year. (dpa)