BY CARLI TEPROFF

Teenagers and children clad in their school colors marched along Calle Ocho on Sunday banging drums, blowing horns and twirling batons.

Bikers wearing leather vests revved their motorcycle engines and waved to the crowd by the side of the road. Latin beats blared from festive floats bearing politicians, local celebrities and children.

But as the crowds cheered on the 35th Annual Three Kings Parade, one man sitting on a lounge chair, weak and pale, made a quiet but powerful political statement.

Ramón Saúl Sánchez, head of the Democracy Movement, was in the seventh day of a hunger strike, demanding that the Bush administration review the controversial wet foot/dry foot policy.

Under the policy, Cuban migrants who reach U.S. soil generally get to stay while those intercepted at sea generally are repatriated. The issue became all the more controversial a week ago when the U.S. Coast Guard repatriated 15 Cuban migrants.

The 15 had landed on a segment of an old bridge in the Florida Keys that is no longer connected to land. The migrants thought they qualified for staying in the United States under the dry-foot component of the policy since they had not been technically intercepted at sea. But U.S. authorities decided they qualified for the wet-foot treatment because the bridge segment they reached was not connected to land.

''I am trying to raise the faith of my people,'' Sánchez said in a raspy voice from his lounge chair. ``We need the people in the White House to listen.''

Sánchez, 50, a prominent Miami anti-Castro activist, hopes that by his action the U.S. government will decide to review the wet foot/dry foot policy.

Sánchez began the protest Jan. 7, just before the 15 migrants were returned, but after they had been put aboard a Coast Guard cutter to await a decision on whether they would be repatriated.

Sánchez' strike began in front of the Miami Beach Coast Guard station, then moved to the Freedom Tower in downtown Miami. On Saturday, he moved his protest and set up in front of the Monument of Cuban Martyrs on Southwest Eighth Street and 13th Avenue. The parade passed by there Sunday.

''I wanted to be surrounded by people in my community,'' Sánchez said.

''Many people are out here today in support of [Sánchez's] cause,'' said Daniel Pedreira, 21, president of Youth for a Free Cuba at the University of Miami. ``It is important that more people see what he is doing to spread the word.''

The parade brought thousands out to celebrate the Hispanic tradition of Melchior, Gaspar and Balthasar going to see the infant Jesus in Bethlehem. The Day of the Three Kings falls on Jan. 6, but organizers staged the parade Sunday hoping to draw more people during the weekend.

People lined both sides of the main thoroughfare, some sitting on the curb, others setting up plastic chairs.

Hot-dog stands and restaurants offering Latin delicacies had a steady stream of traffic.

A little more than a block away from where Sánchez sat, Jamie Correa, who brought his son to the parade, didn't realize what was going on down the street. ''It's a great day for a parade,'' he said. ``It's very cultural.''

As the parade passed by Sánchez's tent, several politicians and celebrities got off vehicles or floats and offered their support to Sánchez.

State Attorney General Charlie Crist shook Sánchez's hand, and Miami-Dade County Commissioner Barbara Jordan gave him a hug.

Many paradegoers also stopped by to wish Sánchez well and to thank him for his protest. Sánchez's family members and friends gathered around him.

Sánchez said he is prepared to keep the strike going. ``I will be here until they listen or I die.''