Cubans will today mark the fortieth anniversary of the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power.

The main celebrations will be in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba, where he and his guerrilla fighters proclaimed victory on January 1st, 1959.

Since then, the Cuban President has gone on to become one of the world's longest-serving and most controversial leaders - surviving opposition from the United States and the fall of his Soviet backers.But the BBC Cuba correspondent says many Cubans are losing faith in the original revolutionary ideals, as they struggle to survive in a country beset by hunger, prostitution and street crime.