A huge piece of fabric with the phrase “Preserve and improve socialism” led the popular march at the Jose Marti Revolution Square, in the presence of President Raul Castro and labor leaders, representatives from the Communist Party, the State, the government and political and social organizations.

The parade, which started at 07:29 hours, local time (11:29 GMT), was led by a bloc of health workers from the capital, the flagship sector of Cuba’s international cooperation, currently present in 66 countries.

Several people bore the flags of the nations in which the Cuban medical brigades work, with representation in every continent.

Giant Cuban flags, posters allegorical to the celebration and with the colors blue, red and white were the protagonists of the parade, held simultaneously in other cities of the country.

Grouped into 23 blocs, union members, many of whom with models representing their respective areas, such as dolls dressed as nurses, taxis, computers, picks and shovels marched in front of the monument to Cuban National Hero Jose Marti.

They carried pictures of the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, and world revolutionaries like Karl Marx and Vladimir Ilich Lenin.

There were also prominent banners with images of the Cuban antiterrorists Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando Gonzalez and Rene Gonzalez, who were arrested more than 13 years ago in the United States, and with demands for their release and immediate return home.

For nearly one and a

half hour, participants chanted slogans in favor of the Revolution, socialism and the leadership of Fidel Castro and Raul Castro.

In an area of the rostrum were 1,900 union leaders representing 209 organizations from 117 countries, who saw hundreds of thousands of people marching in Havana on behalf of the entire Cuban population.

p>Havana, Apr 23 (Prensa Latina) The Primero de Mayo International Brigade, comprised of activities from 22 nations, will arrive in Cuba Monday to attend May Day celebrations.

A bulletin issued by the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) stated that this time, about 260 brigade members from 22 countries of the five continents will arrive in Havana.

The delegation with more participants is Chile with 40 members, followed by Nigeria with 38, Brazil with 37, Peru with 28 and the United Kingdom with 20 activities.

During their stay here, the brigade members will participate in the central rally to celebrate the International Workers’ Day, and carry out voluntary agricultural works.

According to the ICAP, the visitors will also talk with relatives of the five Cuban antiterrorist fighters unjustly held in U.S. prisons over 13 years ago.

Antonio Guerrero, Fernando Gonzalez, Ramon Labañino, Gerardo Hernandez and Rene Gonzalez were arrested on September 12, 1998 in Miami. An irregular process celebrated there condemned them in 2001 to sentences going from 15 years up to the double life imprisonment.

Many personalities and world organizations have defended the Five, as they are known internationally, who only monitored activities by violent groups of Cuban origin in Florida to alert their country from terrorist acts.

On May 2, the activists will attend along with other foreign delegations the traditional Meeting of Solidarity that the Cuban Workers Federation organizes every year at the Havana’s Conference Center.