CUBA: A million people march against US blockade
HAVANA, July 26 — Cuba's President Fidel Castro headed a march of more than 1 million people past the US Interests Office here to demand the end of the US blockade of Cuba and Washington's economic warfare against the island.
That was the way that the people of the capital celebrated the 47th anniversary of the assault on the Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba and Carlos Manuel de Cespedes Garrison in Bayamo by a group of young revolutionaries led by Castro in 1953.
Castro was joined at the head of the march by leaders of the Communist Party and the Young Communist League, government leaders including foreign minister Felipe Perez Roque and president of the National Assembly Ricardo Alarcon, and military leaders.
The cry, "Long live our homeland, down with the blockade!", went up as the marchers passed by the US Interests Section. The march extended the entire length of Havana's Malecon seafront drive and adjacent streets.
Members of the 10th US-Cuba Friendshipment Caravan, led by Reverend Lucius Walker from the Pastors for Peace interreligious foundation, as well as those working on the European Jose Marti and Nordic volunteer brigades, took part. The two European contingents were composed of more than 280 brigade members from 17 countries who were on a three-week visit to the island.
"Cuba, thanks for your example", read a banner carried by the European group. The national flags of Italy, France, Spain, Britain and the Basque Country were clearly visible.
The US caravan members had brought a shipment of humanitarian aid for the Cuban people, collected in various US cities, in open defiance of blockade regulations.
Students from the Latin American School of Medicine waved Chilean, Uruguayan, Venezuelan and Haitian flags.
The Cuban government has stated that massive marches, such as the scores of gatherings held during the seven-month battle to return six-year-old Elian Gonzalez to Cuba, are necessary to help turn US public opinion against the blockade while it is the focus of serious debate in US Congress.
Mass protests were important in influencing a majority of US citizens into siding with Elian's father, who fought to bring his son with him back to Cuba.
[Abridged from Granma International, at .]