Raul Castro, center, and other dignitaries wave to marchers during Cuba’s May Day celebration Tuesday May 1, 2007 in Havana, Cuba. Raul did not speak and Fidel Castro did not attend the annual celebration. CHRIS URSO/The Tampa Tribune

BY KAREN BRANCH-BRIOSO
The Tampa Tribune

Video: May Day celebrations in Cuba/Chris Urso/The Tampa Tribune

HAVANA – Ovy Ortiz, a construction worker stood with her co-workers early today, waiting for the annual Labor Day march to begin.

But first, workers, foreign visitors, journalists all turned toward the immense statute of Jose Marti in Havana´s Plaza of the Revolution, looking for a man with a beard whom no one had seen in public for nine months.

¨Not Fidel? Why not Fidel?” she cried as Fidel Castro’s brother, Raul – provisional president since the Cuban leaders intestinal surgery July 31 – appeared and stood to launch the marchers´ two-hour parade in the plaza below. “We all hoped to see him.”

But Fidel didn´t show, except in posters held aloft by some marchers and spectators – a half-million by the Cuban government´s estimate.

Many more, however, carried signs condemning the United States for its decision last month to release on bond Luis Posada Carriles, an aging ex-CIA agent long accused of masterminding the bombing of a Cuban airliner three decades ago. There were 73 people who died in the event. Some of their surviving family members were there.

So were the families of five Cuban men serving long prison sentences for espionage in the United States after their 2001 conviction in Miami. The Cuban government has long contended that the group was simply fighting terrorism – because they infiltrated exile groups with the plan to prevent violent acts against Cuba.

The Secretary General of the Cuban workers´ union quoted from a newspaper article signed by Fidel Castro yesterday that decried ¨the release of a monster of terrorism.”

Long before dawn today, the Cuban capital awoke with anticipation for the annual International Labor Day celebration.

Tens of thousands made their way to the Plaza of the Revolution. They came from all parts of Cuba. From all parts of the world, even the United States. On everyone’s mind: Would President Fidel Castro, who has presided over most every May 1 celebration since he came to power in 1959, make his first public appearance since temporarily transferring power to his brother July 31?

“There’s tremendous anticipation in the city,” said Pamela Ann Martin, an Ambler, Pa.-based consultant wrapping up a trip here to try to arrange sales of medical equipment to Cuba from Clearwater-based Mercury Medical. “That’s the big talk: will he come out or won’t he? I’m hearing more ‘wills’ than ‘won’ts.”

“We hope he shows up,” said Juan Cortes, 48, vice president of Puerto Rico’s Central Workers’ Federation, which sent 11 members to the events. “That’s what we’re hoping for.”

Cuban nationals were more skeptical. While recent photographs released of the leader in recent days showed a Castro who looked far more robust than his appearance after intestinal surgery last summer, they think he still has some recovery to go before attending a long-running event like this. The march of hundreds of thousands can last several hours in Havana’s unforgiving sun.

“It’s a tradition for him to preside over the parade, but it’s understandable if he doesn’t show,” said Francisco Rodriguez, 36, a journalist for Trabajadores, the weekly newspaper for the Cuban workers union. “I would be very happy if he came, but it would be better for his health if he didn’t…But with Fidel, one never knows. He likes to surprise people.”

Rodriguez’s son, Javier, who accompanied his father on his seventh birthday. He made his own prediction about a Castro sighting – the one that turned out to be correct:

“Raul will be here.”

Reporter Karen Branch-Brioso can be reached at (813) 259-7815 or at kbranch-brioso@tampatrib.com.

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