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Cubans Celebrate Their Past in Advance of Communist Party Congress

   VOA News  April 16, 2011
   Cuban military cadets chant slogans as they march in the parade
   commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs

Photo: AP / Franklin Reyes

   Cuban military cadets chant slogans as they march in the parade
   commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs failed invasion
   along the Plaza de la Revolucion or Revolution Square in Havana, Cuba,
   Saturday April 16, 2011.

   Thousands of Cuban military personnel and civilians staged a parade
   Saturday to salute the 50th anniversary of the country's victory
   against the U.S. at the Bay of Pigs and the island nation's declaration
   of socialism.
   As Cuban leader Raul Castro waved and saluted from a reviewing stand,
   troops high-stepped through Havana's sprawling Revolution Plaza and
   vast numbers of flag-waving civilians followed them. Fighter jets
   roared through sunny skies.
   It was a celebration of key events in the country's past that served as
   a prelude to a discussion of the country's future at a four-day
   Congress for the ruling Communist Party that was set to open later in
   the day. The 1,000 delegates at the gathering, the party's first
   Congress in nearly 14 years, are expected to approve a variety of
   economic reforms proposed by Mr. Castro.
   The gathering could also serve to introduce a new generation of Cuban
   officials to replace the country's rulers for the last half century,
   the 79-year-old Mr. Castro and his ailing brother, Fidel Castro, now
   84.
   Cuba's economy is in deep trouble. Raul Castro has sought to introduce
   a limited amount of free enterprise, but not widespread capitalism. He
   has turned over thousands of hectares of fallow government land to
   small farmers, but at the same time gradually cut generous government
   health and food subsidies that Cubans had come to expect while working
   for low wages.
   He has warned Cubans they must work harder if the island's weak economy
   is to survive. He has announced plans to lay off more than 1.5 million
   state employees over the next three years - about 10 percent of the
   country's overall population of more than 11 million people. To try to
   soften the blow, Mr. Castro has also increased the number of permits
   for "self-employment" and expanded opportunities for foreign
   investment.
   The Bay of Pigs triumph is celebrated in Cuba as a landmark achievement
   over its powerful neighbor 145 kilometers to the north. In April 1961,
   a force of 1,500 CIA-trained Cuban exiles supported by U.S. ships and
   planes came ashore at the Bay of Pigs in an effort to spark a
   counter-revolution against Fidel Castro's 1959 revolt that overthrew
   Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista.
   But Fidel Castro rallied thousands of troops and citizens and routed
   the Bay of Pigs invaders within three days. It was an embarrassing
   defeat for the then new administration of U.S. President John F.
   Kennedy.
   There was no sign of Fidel Castro at Saturday's celebration of the
   brief skirmish.

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