Thousands take part in anti-US march in Cuba
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-25 09:44

Cuba's President Fidel Castro accused the United States of planning to free a man he has characterized as the Western Hemisphere's worst terrorist during a vast march on Tuesday dotted with signs equating U.S. President George W. Bush with Adolf Hitler.

The march past the American mission in Havana was timed to coincide with the end of a 90-day period for additional evidence to be filed in the case of Luis Posada Carriles, an anti-Castro militant held at a U.S. federal detention center in El Paso, Texas, on immigration charges.

"The government of the United States deliberately seeks to ... free the terrorist Luis Posada Carriles," Castro said from a podium before a sea of cheering people along the city's Malecon coastal highway. He called the Cuban exile a "repugnant character."

Cubans carry signs depicting U.S. President George W. Bush, Adolf Hitler and Cuban-born Luis Posada Carriles during a protest march past the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana January 24, 2006. [Reuters]

The 79-year-old leader, dressed in a military uniform, watched the nearly seven-hour event, then marched himself at the end.

Cuba and Venezuela accuse the Cuban-born Posada of masterminding the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner and of staging bombings in Havana in 1997 and 1998. Castro also has accused Posada and his colleagues of plotting to assassinate him at a summit in Panama in November 2000.

"We don't want revenge, we just want justice," said marcher Lucia Roja, a retired educator. Although she is 67 and diabetic, Roja said, "It's important to be here _ I've never missed a march."

Several hundred thousand marchers waved little red, white and blue Cuban flags and signs showing Posada's face in a triangle above the words "Danger: Murderer." They chanted "Bush: fascist! Condemn the terrorist!"

Cuban President Fidel Castro speaks, before starting a march outside of the U.S mission, on the Malecon in Havana, Cuba,Tuesday, Jan 24, 2006.[AP]

Among those Castro greeted before his speech was former Nicaraguan president and Sandinista Party leader Daniel Ortega.

Also seen in the crowd were Castro's wife, Dalia, his older brother Ramon and his eldest son Fidel Jr., along with top Communist Party leaders. His younger brother Raul Castro, Cuba's defense minister, apparently was not there.

Castro called the march to protest recent U.S. actions aimed at Cuba, including a new electronic sign along the American mission's facade to broadcast human rights messages. The U.S. Interests Section in Havana handles consular affairs in the absence of full diplomatic relations.

The sign was activated as Castro began speaking in front of the building Tuesday morning, relaying global news and quotes including Abraham Lincoln's: "No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent."

Cubans carry a national flag with the image of late revolutionary hero Ernesto "Che" Guevara during a protest march past the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana January 24, 2006. [Reuters]

Castro glanced up at the building, saying, "They already turned on the little sign _ the cockroaches are brave," before starting his speech.

The mission launched the sign a week ago with streaming text of sayings from Martin Luther King Jr. and excerpts from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which Cuba is a signatory.

"It's nonsense!" marcher Carla Smith, a 61-year-old lawyer, said of the electronic messages. "Within a few days, we'll have forgotten all about them."

In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said he found irony in Cuba protesting messages containing quotes about freedom by King.

"I don't see why that should be such a source of concern for the Cuban government," McCormack said.

Cuba more than a year ago erected signs outside the mission with photographs of U.S. soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners and a huge swastika with a "Made in the U.S.A." stamp.

By Monday, the signs were replaced with what looked like a huge movie poster showing Bush and Posada with vampire teeth and blood in their mouths, advertising "The Murderer" movie, "coming soon to American courts."

Other billboards set up around the American mission showed bloody brass knuckles, bullets and meat hooks stamped with "Posada & Bush Company." Another poster showed the faces of Bush and Hitler with an equal sign pointing to Posada's face.

Posada, a former CIA operative, was arrested in Miami, Florida, in May on charges he entered the United States illegally. The U.S. government had to submit evidence showing he's a threat by Tuesday to keep him behind bars.

Posada's lawyer in Miami, Eduardo Soto, filed documents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials on Monday seeking Posada's release from custody.

The Immigration service said that while a judge had forbidden it to send Posada to Venezuela or Cuba, it was still seeking to expel him from the United States.