Many cheered at the mere sight of the gray-bearded leader and chanted "Ole! Ole! Fidel! Ole!" and "A people united will never be defeated!"
It was Castro's first visit to Paraguay. The communist leader was long considered persona non grata here during the right-wing military dictatorship of Gen. Alfredo Stroessner, who ruled from 1954 until 1989. Professing a deep aversion to communism, Stroessner long considered the Soviet Union and Cuba top enemies.***
On Saturday, Castro seemed more the object of celebrity adulation by leftist sympathizers and others in post-dictatorship Paraguay. Turning to the crowd, Castro likened the United States to the "Rome of antiquity" and outlined arguments defending his communist state. At one point, many in the crowd sang "Happy Birthday" to the Cuban leader - and he appeared touched, shedding a few tears. ***
But Sanchez, president of the Cuban Human Rights Commission, vehemently denied the allegations as an effort to discredit his opposition to Castro. "It's a colossal lie," the 59-year-old activist told reporters at his home. "It is part of a campaign, like those in the former Soviet Union, to disqualify and silence dissidents," he said.
The book has sown further disarray and suspicion among Cuba's small dissident movement already shaken by mass arrests in March and the surfacing of a dozen infiltrators as witnesses during the trials of 75 members. The dissidents were sentenced to prison terms of up to 28 years. Sanchez, who spent 8 1/2 years in jail in the 1980s, said the book entitled "El Camajan" (The Rogue), was a montage of true and fabricated events. But the former Marxist professor who became a dissident in 1977 had difficulty explaining photographs in the book showing him apparently being decorated for his work by a Cuban intelligence service colonel. The pictures show him hugging the officer and toasting the occasion. ***