Castro Leads Rally Against U.S. Embargo

Wearing white athletic shoes with his olive green uniform, Fidel Castro led hundreds of thousands of Cubans in a march Wednesday demanding an end to the U.S. trade embargo against this communist nation.

“Down with the blockade! Long live the homeland!” the marchers chanted as they started the 3 1/2-mile trek, many of them waving small Cuban flags.

After playing the Cuban national anthem to launch the event, a military band accompanied the protesters down Havana’s coastal highway.

Independent confirmation was impossible, but state-run media said more than 1 million people participated.

Castro, who turns 74 next month, looked animated and rested as he greeted local Communist Party leaders before the event at its starting point in a park in Old Havana. He walked briskly as the march began.

Cuba has been under a total U.S. trade embargo since February 1962, longer than any other country except North Korea. Most travel by Americans to the island was made illegal in 1963.

The march was the latest in an unprecedented string of gatherings that began in December when the government launched a national campaign for the return of 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez from the U.S.

Although Elian was repatriated last month, the government promised to continue the protests for up to 10 years to fight U.S. policies it says harm its citizens.