'They must be returned to Cuba'

HAVANA, Cuba (AP) --President Fidel Castro led tens of thousands of people in a rally
outside the American mission Monday to protest the U.S. government's decision to free
eight Cubans who left the island last week on a stolen crop-duster plane.

Students in school uniforms, army cadets and workers of varying ages cheered
and waved red, white and blue Cuban flags as Castro arrived at the plaza
outside the U.S. Interests Section.

Dressed in his olive green uniform and cap, Castro stood in the front row of the
crowd facing the stage, but did not address the gathering.

Also there the paternal grandparents of Elian Gonzalez, the little Cuban
castaway at the center of an international custody battle in 2000 after he
survived the capsize of a U.S.-bound boat that was that filled with Cubans
trying to emigrate.

"We're here fighting against terrorism, against the lies of the U.S. government
and against the Cuban Adjustment Act," 18-year-old education student Yeniset
Sanchez Cuevas told a reporter, referring to a 1966 U.S. law that gives
preferential treatment to Cuban migrants who reach American soil

"They must be returned to Cuba," Sanchez Cuevas said of pilot Nemencio
Carlos Alonso Guerra and his seven passengers who flew to Key West,
Florida, on November 11 from the western Cuban province of Pinar del Rio.
"If the United States returns people from other countries, they have to do the
same for Cuba."

With the mix of music and dance and fiery speeches that have characterized
such government-organized rallies in the past, speaker after speaker criticized
American immigration policies they blamed for the deaths of countless Cubans
who took their chances on the risky trip by sea or air to Florida.

Castro's government last week demanded that the U.S. government return the
pilot and his passengers to Cuba, along with the Soviet-built biplane.

After lengthy questioning, U.S. immigration authorities decided to let the eight
stay in the United States and released them from custody on Friday.

Cuba has described the flight as a "hijacking."

Copyright 2002 The Associated Press.