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Castro Leads Pro-Palestinian Rally in Cuba
President Fidel Castro led thousands of Cubans in a political rally late on Thursday to express support for Palestinians and condemn alleged Israeli "genocide" in the Middle East conflict.
Culminating a week of official acts of solidarity with Palestinians, Castro and other senior communist leaders sat at the front of the demonstration at the "anti-imperialist" square opposite the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana.
"We want to demand the end of the genocide against our brother Arab nation," one student orator, Dayron Roque Lazo, told the 10,000-strong crowd. "Long live the heroic Palestinian people! Long live the Arab peoples who fight against imperialism! Socialism or Death!"
Cuba broke relations with Israel in the early 1970s and has been a staunch supporter of the Palestine Liberation Organization's fight for an independent state.
At Thursday's rally, speakers alternated with singers, poets and pantomime artists acting out scenes of violence in the Middle East. Most of the speakers also condemned Cuba's political archfoe, the United States, for its backing of Israel.
The state-organized demonstration followed a week of pro- Palestinian activities in Cuba, including a two-day U.N.- organized regional forum on the Middle East question, and a round-table discussion on state television also attended by Castro.
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