The Cuban government abided by its promise to mark the return of shipwreck survivor Elian Gonzalez without much public fanfare, but has announced "a new stage" of resistance to the US blockade, Michael McCaughan writes.
This begins with a "megamarch" tomorrow in Manzanillo town, an event expected to attract 300,000 people.
The stated aim of the campaign is "to continue the struggle against the cruel blockade, the killer Cuban Adjustment Law [preferential US immigration legislation which encourages Cuban emigrants] and plans for destabilisation and subversion," Cuba's only newspaper, Granma, announced yesterday.
The future of Cuban-US relations remains unclear after the damaging seven-month legal tussle over Elian's fate, a case which ended with a political victory for President Fidel Castro and a crushing blow for the powerful Cuban lobby in Miami. The Cuban-Miami hardliners have lost ground to dialoguistas, a growing number of US-based Cubans who favour negotiation with Dr Castro rather than aggression.
The Elian crisis gave Dr Castro's embattled government a much-needed shot in the arm, rallying millions of people behind a cause described by the media as "a tough battle in a longer war" placing the struggle for Elian in the context of four decades of US-Cuban hostilities.
Meanwhile, the US Congress is preparing to end decades of strict sanctions against the island, permitting the sale of food and medicines from US soil, but allowing no reciprocal trade from the island.