In Havana, May Day Parade Draws Hundreds of Thousands
Several hundred thousand Cuban workers and their families staged a huge May Day parade in Havana on Wednesday, a rally billed by the island’s Communist rulers as a “March of the Fighting People” in defense of socialism.
President Fidel Castro, striding purposefully forward in his familiar olive-green fatigues and cap, led the river of flag-waving marchers before taking his place at the reviewing stand in the capital’s central Revolution Square.
Organizers hailed the carefully orchestrated rally as one of the biggest ever held. They described it as a massive show of support for Cuba’s orthodox one-party Communist system despite mounting economic problems and growing foreign pressure for political change. Similar marches were held across the island.
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