Cubans Decry Tighter Restrictions by the U.S.

Hundreds of thousands of red-clad Cubans marched with Fidel Castro past the U.S. diplomatic mission Friday, chanting support for the Cuban leader while depicting President Bush as Hitler for moving to tighten the 44-year embargo against the communist state.

Castro launched the demonstration with denunciations and ridicule of Bush, saying the U.S. president had been fraudulently elected and was trying to impose “world tyranny.”

He then led the crowd, dressed in red shirts and shouting “Long live free Cuba! Fascist Bush!” past the mission on the oceanfront Malecon Boulevard.

A broad stream of students, workers, parents toting children on their shoulders and elderly couples filed past the mission singing, chanting and playing drums.

The government-organized demonstration lasted just over six hours; as it ended, officials announced that 1.2 million people had taken part.

The number could not be confirmed, but the turnout was well into the hundreds of thousands.

Friday’s march brought the level of hostility toward Bush to a new level. Scores of printed posters -- apparently distributed by organizers -- bore swastikas and portrayed Bush in a Nazi uniform with a mustache similar to Hitler’s.

The 77-year-old Castro, dressed in his usual green military uniform and field cap, appeared to walk with some difficulty, favoring a leg, as he led the march for about 800 yards, sometimes waving a small, paper Cuban flag.

Castro said the march was “an act of indignant protest and a denunciation of the brutal, merciless and cruel measures” aimed at squeezing the island’s economy and pushing him out of office.

The measures, announced last week by Bush, include restrictions on money transfers and family visits, increased efforts to transmit anti-Castro television programming to Cuba, and appointment of a coordinator to plan a transition from socialism to capitalism.