People restless as Cuba digs in

[Jimmy2]

HAVANA -- Throngs of people who gathered in front of the government headquarters for the annual May Day celebration sent a clear orchestrated message Friday: The Cuban government isn't planning to go away anytime soon.

Cuban leader Raúl Castro, in a guayabera and straw hat, did not speak -- he let the event do the talking for him. The unspoken message was that no matter the hype about increased talks with Washington, the hemisphere's last communist government has no immediate plans for change.

''Let us raise our flags and voices so that -- from one pole to the other on this planet, from one continent to another -- the unwavering decision of these extraordinary and combative people to build socialism under the direction of the Communist Party of Cuba, of Raúl and Fidel, will resound,'' said Cuban government labor union leader Salvador Valdés, the only official speaker at the International Worker's Day parade.

But as Valdés, other top officials and 2,000 international guests assembled with tens of thousands of people at the Plaza of the Revolution, a photo taken from the crowd roared perhaps even louder: A beaming young woman in dark sunglasses went to the Cuban May Day parade waving an enormous U.S. flag.

Cubans on the island, widely considered supporters of President Barack Obama, applaud his recent decision to let U.S. residents visit and send cash to relatives on the island as often as they wish.

Friday's May Day celebration took place amid weeks of speculation that Washington and Havana could begin to bury their 50-year-old hatchet. When Obama lifted long-standing restrictions that kept people from visiting relatives on the island, he let Castro know that if he expected more moves like that one, Cuba had to make the next move.

Both Castros have rejected that notion.

''Never should the adversary be under the illusion that Cuba will surrender,'' former dictator Fidel Castro wrote in his regular newspaper column, ''Reflections,'' published Friday.

''Today they are willing to forgive us if we resign ourselves to return to the fold, as slaves who after experiencing freedom once again accept the whip and the yoke,'' he said. `` . . . There are still some who believe that peoples can be manipulated like puppets.''

At a meeting of non-aligned nations Wednesday in Havana, Raúl Castro said Obama's move was too small.

''Cuba is not the one that needs to make gestures,'' he said. ``Cuba is not the one that stops its country's businessmen from doing business with ours. Cuba is not the one punishing financial transactions by U.S. banks.''

Several Cubans interviewed in Havana said Friday's parade seemed out of touch with the bitter daily reality of a country where the monthly wage is about $20.

''The way things are, I don't think this is the right time,'' said Yovanni, 28, a bicycle taxi driver. ``Those who need to work don't have time for parades.''

The Cuban government reported that more than 2,000 people flew to Cuba from 70 different nations to attend the event. Granma, the Communist Party's newspaper, included more than a dozen articles on its web site about the annual gathering, and featured photos of people like the daughter of Argentine revolutionary Ernesto ''Che'' Guevara.

Internationally known Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez wrote in a web posting last week that she planned to use the occasion to hold a nighttime pot-banging rally to protest Cubans' inability to travel freely. The protest, known as a cacerolazo, was scheduled for evening, but it was not known Friday if it took place.

Polo, 60, traveled 400 miles from Las Tunas to Havana so people at work would not be suspicious of him missing the government-promoted event. Laborers are given the day off to attend but Polo was not enthusiastic.

''The revolution doesn't sing in your ear anymore,'' he said. ``Sometimes, I don't even have one peso to buy tobacco. The crisis has spread to the whole world, but it has always been in Cuba.''

Leaning on a concrete wall covered with posters of Fidel and Che Guevara, Polo said he hopes for better times. His words and gestures contrasted with the nearby singing of a group of young men from the La Corona cigar factory, who improvised ribald lyrics.

Unwilling to join them was Lázaro, 70, a psychologist who worked in schools and universities as long as he could. He said that he no longer has the faith or the energy to celebrate May Day.

''There was talk of changes, and so far -- nothing,'' he said. ``Under those circumstances, it's hard to wait.''

Lázaro believes that a solution is attainable but that the obstacle is ''upstairs'' -- the government, where few officials accept the reality of the times.

''It's as if everything were decomposing,'' Lázaro said, adding that the hand of the authorities in Havana is not doing what it should.

''It has turned,'' he said, ``into a closed fist.''