EFL
Fidel Castro accused the United States of seeking to rupture the minimum remaining diplomatic ties with his country, addressing tens of thousands of Cubans before starting a march outside the American mission here on Tuesday.
from his walker....
"The rude provocations that have been undertaken from its Interests Office in Havana does not, and could not, have any other goal," Castro said from a podium before the sea of cheering people stretching out along Havana's Malecon coastal highway ahead of the government-organized march.
provocations= human rights messages
"Bush: fascist! Condemn the terrorist!" the marchers chanted, most of them waving little red, white and blue Cuban flags and signs equating U.S. President George W. Bush with Cuban exile Luis Posada Carriles, whom Castro accuses of a series of violent actions against the island. "Cuba will triumph!" they shouted. Among those Castro greeted before his speech was former Nicaraguan president and Sandinista Party leader Daniel Ortega.
"Viva Sandinistas! Like my glasses? Bianca Jagger does!"
Castro called the march to protest recent U.S. actions aimed at Cuba, including new electronic signs activated a week ago along the 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.
Bwahahaha Condi/Bolton message sent and received
The Cuban leader also accused the Bush administration of working with Cuban exiles in Miami to violate migration accords between the two countries, to block the legally permitted sales of American food to the island and of violating Cuba's independence with a post-Castro transition plan authorities here say is a thinly veiled attempt at regime change.
Hokay
"The government of President Bush knows very well that no government in the world can accept such a perverse insult to its dignity and sovereignty," Castro said.
dignity? Get that mole taken off your forehead - it looks like a fly....
The mission a week ago turned on signs with streaming text of news and sayings from Martin Luther King Jr. and excerpts from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which Cuba is a signatory. The signs were activated as Castro began speaking Tuesday morning.
I can see why he feels provoked. Good thing it didn't quote the bible, magna carta, U.S. Declaration of Independence, or anything by Lincoln
"It's nonsense!" Carla Smith, a 61-year-old lawyer among those marching, said of the signs. "Within a few days, we'll have forgotten all about them."
The signs on the oceanfront building are the latest salvo in an ongoing billboard war between the two countries.
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.
The signs were switched out on Monday for new ones equating Bush with Posada and Adolf Hitler.