Cuba calls for more than 1 million to march against U.S. embargo

HAVANA - Cuba's communist government on Tuesday called out more than 1 million people for a march to celebrate the start of the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power 41 years ago and to demand an end to the U.S. trade embargo.

Castro said in a televised appearance Tuesday night that he would participate in the Wednesday march down the Malecon coastal highway to the seaside U.S. Interests Section, the American mission here. He declared that the ''march of combatants'' would be the largest ever in Cuba's history.

The Communist Party daily Granma said: ''More than 1 million Havana residents ... will march in a compact and combative demonstration to demand a definitive end to the genocidal blockade.'' Havana has about 2 million residents.

The march will be the latest in an unprecedented string of massive gatherings that began last December when the government launched a national campaign for the return of 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez to Cuba.

Although Elian was repatriated last month, the government promised to continue the protests - for as many as 10 years if necessary - to fight against American policies it says harm its citizens.

Among the oft-mentioned policies are U.S. trade sanctions, imposed by the Kennedy administration to try to force Castro to abandon one-party rule.

The march comes amid growing moves in Congress to chip away at the nearly 40-year-old trade sanctions against Cuba and appears aimed at influencing American public opinion.

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 giant march will show ''a patriotic and dignified people, ready to fight for its rights and determined to thrown down the infamous laws that have provoked great suffering and have criminally blocked our economic and social development,'' the newspaper said.

''Down with the blockade! Long live the homeland!'' it added.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 301-116 Thursday to stop enforcing provisions that ban U.S. food exports and limit sales of American medicine to Cuba and four other nations - Iran, Libya, North Korea and Sudan.

The U.S. Senate passed a bill the same day to permit food and medical sales to the five countries. The Senate measure prevents a president from blocking such shipments without congressional approval.

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

Cuba, which credits its earlier marches for Elian's repatriation, said only such massive gatherings will bring down the embargo.

The yearly ceremony marks the July 26, 1953, attack by Castro and his comrades on the Moncada army barracks in the eastern city of Santiago. The attack launched the 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.