With shouts of "Libertad!" -- "Freedom!" -- and the singing of the Cuban national anthem, more than 200 people on Friday opened a rare opposition assembly in communist Cuba, uninterrupted by authorities after the expulsion of European lawmakers, journalists and others who planned to attend.
"There will be a before and after for May 20 in Cuba," predicted lead event organizer Martha Beatriz Roque, calling it first in Fidel Castro's 46 years of communist rule. "This is a triumph for all the opposition."
Several years in the planning, the general meeting of the Assembly for the Promotion of Civil Society was aimed at bringing together diverse opposition groups to discuss promotion of a Western-style democracy in Cuba.
Roque, a former political prisoner who attempted a similar gathering nine years ago, called it "a point of departure" for future work.
"This is a really nice surprise," said veteran activist Vladimiro Roca, who with Roque was among four dissident leaders who attempted to organize the Concilio Cubano meeting. "My predictions were not realized. I didn't think the government would allow it to happen."
Concilio's planned 1996 meeting was canceled after about 50 members were rounded up beforehand. The day the convention was to be held, Cuban MiGs off the island's coast shot down two American civilian planes carrying four members of the exile group Brothers to the Rescue, plunging the countries into political crisis.
Seated in rows of plastic chairs bought with donations from exile groups, the delegates cheered as organizers played an audio message from US President George W. Bush.
"I have a message to those assembling today to protest in Cuba: As you struggle for the freedom of your country, the American people stand with you," Bush said in his traditional May 20 speech recognizing Cuban Independence Day.
"Viva Bush!" some delegates shouted. Earlier in the meeting, there were scattered shouts of "Abajo Fidel!" -- "Down with Fidel!"
Cuba on Thursday expelled two European lawmakers who had planned to attend the gathering. Six Poles -- three journalists, a human rights worker and two students -- were being expelled from the country on Friday, the Polish Foreign Ministry said in Warsaw.
"This is typical behavior of a totalitarian state," said Czech Senator Karel Schwarzenberg, one of the lawmakers police took to the airport Thursday afternoon. German lawmaker Arnold Vaatz was also expelled.
Both the Czech and German foreign ministries summoned the Cuban ambassadors in their countries for an explanation.
"It is a legitimate and natural wish for German and European politicians to want to meet with the opposition and civil rights movements," German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said.
Two former Spanish senators, Isabel San Baldomero and Rosa Lopez Garnica, were also told to leave Cuba.
"We believe the political situation in Cuba has to be improved," Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said in Lisbon, Portugal. "But we want to do it through dialogue."
Polish lawmakers Boguslav Sonik and Jacek Protasiewicz, members of the EU assembly's conservative European People's Party, earlier were refused entry into Cuba, as was a representative of the powerful Miami exile lobby, the Cuban American National Foundation.
In Rome, Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini summoned the Cuban ambassador for clarification on the reported detention of journalist Francesco Battistini, of the top daily Corriere della Sera. Battistini was expected back in Italy on the first available flight.
Cuba typically detains, and often expels, international journalists working on the island without government approval.
"These actions demonstrate the Cuban government's fear of Cubans who assert their rights and underline the need for change," US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said in Washington.
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