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Thousands of Cubans gathered on Friday before the U.S. embassy in Havana to protest a U.S. decision to indict former president Raúl Castro over the downing of two civilian airplanes 30 years ago.
The pro-government demonstration, which began shortly after sunrise on Havana’s waterfront, came as Cuban officials rallied this week around the island’s revolutionary hero.
The 94-year-old elder statesman was not present.
U.S. President Donald Trump hailed his justice department’s indictment of former Cuban president Raúl Castro over his role in Cuba’s 1996 downing of two civilian aircraft that killed four people, including three Americans. Trump said the U.S. is ‘freeing up’ Cuba, but has no plans for ‘escalation.’
Cuban lawmaker Gerardo Hernández, a national hero and former spy, conveyed a message thanking the Cuban people and friends around the world for their solidarity.
“As long as I live, I will remain at the forefront of the Revolution, with one foot in the stirrup,” Hernández quoted Castro as saying.
Thousands of Cubans waved flags during the nearly hour-long rally, chanting “Viva Raúl!” and “Patria o Muerte (Homeland or Death)!”
Senior political leaders at rally
President Miguel Díaz-Canel and Prime Minister Manuel Marrero attended the rally, as did several of Castro’s family, including daughter Mariela Castro, son Alejandro Castro and grandson Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro.
Rodríguez Castro, known in Cuba as “Raulito” (Little Raúl) or “El Cangrejo” (The Crab), often serves as his grandfather’s bodyguard and met last week with CIA Director John Ratcliffe during a rare visit to Havana by a U.S. spy chief.
Mariela Castro, interviewed shortly after the protest, told Cuban state-run media that her father was doing fine.
“Raúl is doing very well, very calm, like an old guerrilla fighter; he observes and smiles. He always said: ‘No one takes me alive; they’ll catch me fighting,'” she said.
Cuba says Castro’s indictment on murder charges on Wednesday was based on “spurious” allegations designed to serve as a pretext for an invasion as U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration pushes to upend the island’s government.
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