Check out the new suit, looks like his tailor told him to drop the tired para-military look. Saturday Night Fidel...or is that Saturday Night Typhoid Fever?
Posted on 06/12/2002 7:43:26 AM PDT by NYer
HAVANA (AP) _ Protesting President Bush's policies toward his country and defying calls for democratic reforms his one-party system, Fidel Castro led hundreds of thousands of people in support of a constitutional amendment declaring Cuba's socialist state ``untouchable.''
Surrounded by security men and other top communist leaders, the Cuban leader who will celebrate his 76th birthday in August started out with a slow, but firm step down the Malecon coastal boulevard. He walked for about a mile, about the distance he usually does in such events, before leaving the march.
Wearing his traditional olive green uniform and cap and the black high-top athletic style shoes he now favors, Castro waved a small red, white and blue Cuban flag as the sea of people marched toward the U.S. Interests Section, the American mission.
``Come on, comrades! Everyone will participate in the great march against the lies of Mr. W!'' an unidentified man with a megaphone said in a reference to U.S. President Bush. ``Come on, comrades! In support of the constitutional amendment!''
The Havana event coincided with related marches around the island involving several million of the nation's 11 million citizens, the government said. Castro said earlier 1 million people _ about half of the capital's population _ were expected to participate in Havana alone.
State television, which carried the Havana march live, also showed images of large marches in the eastern provincial capitals of Holguin and Santiago. Castro called for a massive march here and in cities across the island to support the amendment, announced one month after a group of activists submitted a proposed referendum for deep reforms in the socialist system.
The proposed constitutional amendment declaring Cuba's socialist system to be ``untouchable,'' and the mobilization, appear to be Castro's response to the Varela Project, the proposed reform referendum.
Organizers submitted more than 11,000 signatures to Cuba's National Assembly on May 10, demanding a referendum asking voters if they favor civil liberties such as freedom of speech and assembly, the right to own a business, electoral reform and amnesty for political prisoners. Most Cubans first heard of Project Varela in mid-May when former President Jimmy Carter mentioned it in his live and uncensored television address to the Cuban people.
The march organizers called on all Cubans to support changes proposed by the Varela Project ``to achieve respect for fundamental rights'' on the island. Castro has said nothing publicly about Project Varela.
In comments to international media, several communist officials have accused project organizers of being on the U.S. government payroll. They also have described what they say are legal and technical problems with the demands, indicating the project has little chance of success.
The top leadership of Cuba's popular organizations, which form the pillars supporting Cuba's one-party system, unanimously agreed Monday to ask the National Assembly to consider approving the proposed amendment. The proposal asks lawmakers to ratify that ``Cuba is a socialist state of workers, independent and sovereign, organized with all and for the good of all, as a unified and democratic republic, for the enjoyment of political liberty, social justice, individual and collective well-being, and human solidarity.''
The march and proposal come after President Bush's May 20 address reiterating his promise not to ease up on Cuba trade or travel restrictions until the communist country undertakes deep reforms.
AP-ES-06-12-02 0927EDT
Check out the new suit, looks like his tailor told him to drop the tired para-military look. Saturday Night Fidel...or is that Saturday Night Typhoid Fever?
Now that's a picture I would love to see!!
Hundreds of thousands of Cubans, led by President Fidel Castro, march up Havana's waterfront on June 12, 2002 in a show of revolutionary fervor against U.S. pressure for change in the communist-run island. Officials said more than one million people, mostly wearing red T-shirts and waving Cuban flags, marched by the U.S. mission (large building at right) shouting slogans against the Bush administration. REUTERS/Str
It was not clear how much choice Cubans had to stay away from the marches. Residents who have lived through dire economic hardships since the collapse of the Soviet Union a decade ago lose benefits if they shun official events by the ruling Communist Party. Cubans were driven at dawn to the marches in buses and open trucks in a massive operation.***
Fidel: I can kill more people than you!
Yassar: No way!
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