As U.S. stock markets wither, Cuban leader questions whether the world can sustain capitalism.
 

                   HAVANA (CNN) - Cuban President Fidel Castro, in a
                   speech Friday marking the 1959 Cuban revolution, not
                   ed the troubles on Wall Street and questioned if the
                   world can sustain the capitalist economic system.

                   Castro said falling investor confidence in the United States
                   and what he called the failure of "globalization," raises
                   questions about whether worldwide capitalism can continue.

                   Castro didn't mention Cuba's desperate economic condition,
                   but he did thank the U.S. House for passing a bill that would
                   lift restrictions on travel to the island nation.

                   The House voted "with determination and courage for
                   three amendments that bring glory to that institution,"
                   Castro told tens of thousands of people gathered for the
                   Revolution Day commemoration.

                    In his government's first official response to the votes,
                    Castro said he considered the action so important that it
                    didn't matter if President Bush vetoed them, as he has
                    indicated he would.

                   "We shall always be grateful for that gesture," Castro said.

                   The House voted Tuesday to lift restrictions on travel by
                   Americans to Cuba, a ban that has been in place for more
                   than four decades -- except during a brief period during the
                   administration of President Carter.

                   The House also voted to remove blocks to the sale of food
                   and medicine to Cuba and lift the cap on the amount of
                   money that Cuban-Americans can send relatives in Cuba.

                   The measures now go to the Senate.

                   The White House said this week in a statement that the
                   president likely would veto the spending bill if it lifted the
                   travel ban. "Lifting the sanctions now would provide a helping
                   hand to a desperate and repressive regime," it said.

                   The bill, which faces an uncertain future in the U.S. Senate
                   and at the White House, would open the door for increased
                   tourism by U.S. citizens, something Cuba desperately needs.

                   Castro said Cuba wants friendship with the United States, but
                   he made clear that does not include altering Cuba's one-party
                   socialist state.