Castro Leads Anti-Embargo March

With Fidel Castro leading the way in uniform and sneakers, a sea of Cubans flooded Havana's coastal highway Wednesday in a march authorities said drew more than 1 million protesters in an effort to consolidate opposition to the U.S. trade embargo.

The march came amid the most significant efforts by the U.S. Congress in nearly two generations to ease sanctions imposed by the Kennedy administration against the communist island at the height of the Cold War.

"Down with the blockade! Long live the homeland!" the marchers chanted as they started the three-and-a-half mile trek, many waving small Cuban flags. A military brass band accompanied the protesters, playing martial music that later gave way to the pounding and clanging of traditional conga bands.

The Cuban president, who turns 74 next month, completed the march to the U.S. Interests Section, where he boarded his black Mercedes Benz. The chief of the American mission, Vicky Huddleston, was briefly seen on a balcony with binoculars.

The event coincided with the 47th anniversary of the July 26, 1953, attack by Castro and his followers on an army barracks that launched the Cuban Revolution against the dictatorship of then-President Fulgencio Batista.

Although the attackers were all either killed or jailed, the movement later regained strength and triumphed on New Year's Day 1959 after Batista fled the country.

Cubans celebrate July 26 as a national holiday every year, but this time the celebration comes amid growing moves in the U.S. Congress to chip away at the nearly 40-year-old trade sanctions against Cuba.

Cuba has been under a total trade embargo since February 1962, longer than any other country except North Korea. The sanctions were tightened in July 1963, and most travel by Americans to the island then was made illegal.

The House of Representatives last week voted to stop enforcing provisions that ban U.S. food exports and limit sales of American medicine to Cuba and the Senate passed a similar measure.

While Cuba welcomed the moves, it said they do not go far enough and continued to demand a total lifting of the sanctions.

They have said they believe that massive marches, such as the scores of gatherings held during the seven-month battle to return 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez to Cuba, are necessary to help turn American public opinion against the trade embargo while it is the focus of serious congressional debate.

Cuba has told its citizens the earlier protests were key in influencing a majority of Americans into siding with Elian's father, who fought to bring his boy with him back to Cuba last month despite efforts by the boy's Miami relatives to keep him in the U.S.

Independent confirmation of the number of marchers was impossible. At the very least, the march included hundreds of thousands and was by far the largest seen in a recent string of gatherings in recent months.

Because Wednesdawas a national holiday, all government offices and virtually all other businesses were closed by government order, and workers were exhorted to march. Communist officials arranged transportation to the march site.

By ANITA SNOW