Castro marches in May Day parade

Published: 3 May 2000 y., Wednesday
Castro traded his black boots for white tennis shoes, grasped a red, white and blue Cuban flag and led hundreds of thousands of people through the streets of Havana. With a white T-shirt peeking out from his traditional olive green uniform, the 73-year-old leader who has ruled this island for 41 years guided a sea of chanting, flag-waving men, women and children from Havana's sprawling Plaza of the Revolution to the U.S. Interests Section almost two miles away. The scene was reminiscent of Castro in his early years in power, after the revolution that triumphed on New Year's Day 1959. During his speech, Castro linked Elian's case to Cuba's struggle against the U.S. trade embargo and international criticism of the island's human-rights record. He accused a "Cuban-American terrorist mob" of fighting to keep the shipwreck survivor in the United States. Castro said he is not convinced that an appeals court in Atlanta, which has set a May 11 hearing in the case, will rule in favor of Elian's father. Father and son are staying in the United States pending the hearing on a request by their Miami relatives for a political asylum hearing for the boy. The gathering this year was also unusual in that it was being described as an "open tribune" - the government term used to describe the mass concentrations regularly held to press for Elian's return to Cuba. Elian's case has absorbed Cubans and their government since Nov. 25, when the boy was found floating on an inner tube off the Florida coast following a boating accident that killed his mother and 10 others. The castaway quickly found himself at the center of an international custody battle. His anti-communist Miami relatives are fighting to keep him in the United States, while his father is demanding to take the boy back to Cuba. Elian was reunited with his father in Washington last week after a dramatic raid of the Miami relatives' home. Armed agents whisked the boy away and flew him to his dad. The raid has been bitterly criticized by the Miami relatives and many of their supporters in South Florida's large Cuban-American community, as well as by conservative members of Congress.
Šaltinis: nandotimes.com
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.

Facebook Comments

New comment


Captcha

Associated articles

The most popular articles

New Yorkers take a dip in dumpsters

Hundreds of New Yorkers enjoy a dip in rubbish dumpsters that have been converted into swimming pools as part of the city's summer initiative. more »

Lithuania funded the reconstruction of a school in Southern Afghanistan

On 19 July, a school, which had been reconstructed with the funding from Lithuania’s Special Mission in Afghanistan, was opened in the village of Suri, the Zabul Province in the South of Afghanistan. more »

Self-employed workers to gain maternity and pension benefits under new EU law

Self-employed workers and their partners will enjoy better social protection – including the right to maternity leave for the first time – under new EU legislation that enters into force today. more »

Valuable Ansel Adams negatives found

A 45 U.S. dollar garage sale purchase turns out to be long lost Ansel Adams negatives worth 200 million dollars. more »

Boy survives three-floor fall

A Turkish toddler survives a three-floor fall from a balcony when he lands on a stack of plastic pipes. more »

Dead penguins found in Uruguay

Around 200 Magellan penguins, most of them dead, wash up on Uruguay's beaches. more »

Europeans call for more action on road safety in survey

Europeans are calling on Member States to boost their efforts to improve road safety, according to a survey published by the European Commission today. more »

Dementia patients on the rise as China’s population ages

With an increase in life expectancy in China has come an accompanying rise in dementia cases, which may leave the younger generation struggling to cope with treatment and care. more »

Turtle hospital full in Gulfport Mississippi

These baby sea turtles should be swimming in the Gulf of Mexico, but instead they are recovering at the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Mississippi. more »

Argentina's Siesta Hotel

Reviving the Latin American tradition of the afternoon siesta, a hotel in Argentina brings siesta to the corporate workforce. more »