Castro Leads Anti-U.S. Rally on Eve of Bush Inauguration

HAVANA —  One day after the burial of two military cadets who died while trying to leave Cuba in a jet’s wheel well, President Fidel Castro led hundreds of thousands of people in a march Friday to protest U.S. policies he blames for the deaths.

“Down with the murderous law!” the marchers shouted as Castro, wearing his typical olive green uniform and white athletic shoes, led the masses down the Malecon coastal highway and past the U.S. mission.

The government estimated the crowd at 1 million, a number impossible to confirm independently.

Castro blames the 1966 U.S. Cuban Adjustment Act, which offers preferential treatment to Cubans seeking residency in the U.S., for stimulating illegal immigration such as the case of the two cadets.

Alberto Vazquez, 17, and Maikel Fonseca, 16, died from lack of oxygen and subfreezing temperatures Christmas Eve after they hid inside the wheel well of a London-bound British Airways jet.

The march in Havana, the capital, came as President-elect George W. Bush prepared to take office and as Cuba has stepped up attacks on enemies on and off the island.

This month, the government twice criticized foreign correspondents based here; arrested two Czech citizens, including a former minister of finance and education; and launched the new marches to protest U.S. policies.

It was unclear if the latest moves were related to Bush’s inauguration today. Havana is engaged in a long-term “battle of ideas” aimed at ensuring the future of the Cuban revolution long after Castro is gone by trying to involve the country’s youth in national politics.