HAVANA (Reuters) - President Fidel Castro led hundreds of thousands of Cubans in a mass protest in Havana on Friday against new steps taken by the United States to squeeze Cuba's economy and topple its communist government.
Workers and students wearing red shirts and soldiers and military cadets in uniform marched waving small Cuban flags along Havana's waterfront past the American diplomatic mission, shouting slogans against President Bush.
"Bush, you fascist, there is no aggression that Cuba cannot resist," they chanted during the six-hour march organized by the government. It was one of its largest rallies in years.
Officials said 1.2 million people marched to repudiate what they see as U.S. meddling.
Castro denounced as "ruthless and cruel" measures adopted last week by the White House to step up support for Cuban dissidents and limit dollar remittances to Cubans and visits from their relatives in the United States.
The 77-year-old Cuban leader, wearing his trademark military fatigues and cap, looked frail and walked one mile with difficulty, at times leaning on a marcher.
The U.S. measures aimed at speeding up democratic change on the Caribbean island were the latest in four decades of sanctions designed to oust Castro, in power since a 1959 revolution.
"You have no right whatsoever, except for that of brute force, to intervene in Cuba's affairs ... and proclaim the transition from one system to another and take measures to make this happen," Castro said in a speech.
Castro said Bush had no moral authority to speak of freedom, democracy and human rights in Cuba when his election to the White House was a "fraud" and U.S. troops were killing Iraqis.
"The unbelievable torture applied to prisoners in Iraq has rendered the world speechless," Castro said.
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http://www.reuters.com/newsArt...51161
See even Castro prefers Kerry, he knows the value of having a good communist as president
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