Castro Blasts 'Yankee' Plans

(AP)  Fidel Castro led tens of thousands of Communist Party faithful in celebrating Cuba's Revolution Day on Wednesday, telling a large crowd that his revolution's social achievements exceed anything a U.S.-backed replacement could accomplish.

Returning to his roots in eastern Cuba, Castro also praised Granma province, named for the yacht that carried him back to Cuba in 1956 to launch the battles that led him to triumph three years later.

"Granma (province) doesn't need any Yankee transition plan to vaccinate and teach our people to read and write," Castro said, drawing loud applause from the crowd in this provincial capital. "They should tell Mr. Bush ... to come to Granma to see a development plan."

The plan recently presented by a U.S. presidential commission envisions a post-Castro Cuba with multiparty elections and free markets, led by a democratic transition government that would be encouraged to request aid and other support from the United States.

Cuban leaders say there will be no transition after the death of Castro, who turns 80 on Aug. 13, but rather a succession within the existing system. The leader's 75-year-old brother, Defense Minister Raul Castro, is to assume the presidency.

Cuba's top communist leadership began arriving earlier this week for the annual celebration of Castro's nearly suicidal barracks assault in the eastern city of Santiago that launched the Cuban Revolution.

Castro was just 26 when he led a ragtag band on July 26, 1953, in the assault on the Moncada barracks.

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