By Tracey Ober
RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 1 (Reuters) - Latin Americans welcomed the new millennium with gusto, with millions of people swaying to live Samba music on Rio's famed Copacabana beach and Mariachi bands heralding the arrival of 2000 in Mexico City.
There were celebrations throughout Latin America, from Brazil to Argentina and Mexico City, but communit-ruled Cuba officially shunned the event.
Panamanians celebrated on Friday as their country officially took control of the Panama Canal from the United States, while a more subdued Venezuela saw in the New Year as it continued its recovery from one of Latin America's worst natural disasters of the 20th century.
Clocks in Brazil struck midnight before anywhere else in North and South America.
Millions of revellers dressed all in white danced under a shower of fireworks on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro.
Some three million people -- matching the entire population of Uruguay -- crowded onto the resort city's three-mile (five-km) Copacabana beach, swaying to live Samba bands in one of the world's biggest New Year festivities.
``It's so beautiful, I just can't believe it's the new millennium,'' one awe-struck reveller said.
Crowds of people sent flowers and floating candles into the Atlantic as offerings to Iemanja, the Afro-Brazilian goddess of the sea and fertility who is worshipped across the country on New Year's eve. Tradition has it that if the waves sweep away someone's offering, Iemanja has accepted it and
they will have good fortune in the coming year.
President Fernando Henrique Cardoso also kicked off celebrations for the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Portuguese explorers in Brazil.
Throngs of people packed the streets of Mexico City. Revellers counted down the end of 1999 with gusto, cramming the Mexican capital's main Reforma boulevard and the Zocalo, the massive central plaza.
Mariachi bands belted out traditional Mexican tunes and people showed off their red knickers -- meant to augur love and passion for the New Year -- by tugging at their waistbands.
Cuba ushered in the New Year with exhortations of revolutionary fervor instead of the festivities seen elsewhere around the world.
State television began the first day of 2000 -- also the anniversary of President Fidel Castro's Jan. 1, 1959, Cuban Revolution -- with a special midnight message to the people.
``Comrades, our socialist revolution celebrates its 41st anniversary stronger than ever,'' began the short address.
There were no official celebrations, following Castro's formal rejection of Jan. 1, 2000, as the start of the new millennium. He said it actually would begin next year.
Foreign residents and tourists in Havana attended special private dinners and shows in popular spots such as the Tropicana nightclub and Old Havana's picturesque Cathedral Square.
In Panama, President Mireya Moscoso claimed the Panama Canal from the United States on Friday, bringing to a close a century of U.S. involvement in the Central American nation.
Thousands of flag-waving Panamanians broke through security cordons in pouring rain to join the president on the steps outside the canal administration building.
``The cry of total sovereignty of so many generations...is today a reality. This territory has returned to us,'' Moscoso told the jubilant crowd.
Argentines greeted the New Year under a rain of fireworks. President Fernando de la Rua welcomed 2000 with his family in Ushuaia, the world's southernmost city.
Venezuela continued the process of recovering from mid-December's deadly flooding and mudslides. As many as 50,000 people died and about 400,000 people remained homeless.
Scattered showers fell on Venezuela's devastated Caribbean coast on Friday, placing emergency services on alert.
02:36 01-01-00
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