By Anita Snow, Associated Press Writer. October 6, 2001
HAVANA, 6 (AP) - Cuban President Fidel Castro (news - web sites) gathered
hundreds of thousands of people Saturday to demand justice in the bombing of a
Cuban airliner 25 years ago, saying punishing the suspects in the 1976 attack
would be part of the international struggle against terrorism.
The island nation, which has vowed to aid U.N. anti-terrorism efforts
following the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, has the "full moral
authority and right to demand an end to terrorism against Cuba,'' Castro told
the huge crowd assembled to remember the victims of the airliner bombing.
The communist leader contrasted the international reaction to the Cold
War-era airliner bombing with the response to the Sept. 11 attacks, which
destroyed the World Trade Center, damaged the Pentagon (news - web sites) and
killed more than 5,000 people.
"The death of 73 people aboard a Cuban jetliner blown up in mid-flight
would be the same to the U.S. people as if seven American jetliners, with over
300 passengers each, had been destroyed in full flight the same day by a
terrorist conspiracy,'' Castro said.
And yet, he said, "Nobody, except for a group of friendly personalities
and institutions, shared our pain and sorrow. There was no upheaval around the
world, no acute political crises, no United Nations (news - web sites) meetings,
not the imminent threat of war.''
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, Cuba has renewed demands for prosecution of two
Cuban exiles it blames for the bombing of the Cubana de Aviacion jet, which
exploded over the Caribbean off Barbados on Oct. 6, 1976.
One of the men, Luis Posada Carriles, escaped from prison in Venezuela
before his case was tried and is now behind held in Panama on charges he plotted
to kill Castro during a visit there last year.
The other, Orlando Bosch, spent 11 years behind bars in Venezuela during a
lengthy judicial process that ended with his acquittal. He now lives in Miami.
At Saturday's rally, state television showed a massive sea of cheering
people spreading across the broad Havana plaza that is home to the headquarters
of the government and the Communist Party. The government estimated the crowd at
1 million, but that could not be verified.
Participants wore red T-shirts with the slogan "Justice for the
Martyrs'' - a reference to the bombing victims, known in Cuba as the Martyrs of
Barbados.
In a 45-minute speech, Castro said the gathering was held also to "express
our solidarity with the thousands of innocent people who died in New York and
Washington.''
"We are here to condemn the brutal crime committed against them while
supporting the search for ways conducive to a real and lasting eradication of
terrorism,'' he said.
But he stressed Cuba's opposition to military retaliation that would "develop
a bloody and open-ended war.'' Last week, Castro called for a "peaceful
solution'' to terrorism. | 
