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NEWS
Monday November 1, 3:44 AM
Bush promises to rid Cuba of 'tyrant' Castro
agence france presse
US President George W. Bush vowed to "keep the pressure on" and rid Cuba
of Fidel Castro, an appeal to the hard-line Cuban-Americans Bush counted
on to win Florida and the White House.
"I strongly believe the people of Cuba should be free from the tyrant,"
Bush told a boisterous crowd of supporters here two days before the
election, winning the rally's loudest cheers and chants of "Viva Bush"
-- long live Bush.
"Over the next four years, we will continue to press hard and ensure
that the gift of freedom finally reaches the men and women of Cuba," he
said. "We will not rest, we will keep the pressure on, until the Cuban
people enjoy the same freedoms in Havana they received here in America."
The crowd packed into the Coconut Grove Convention Center cheered,
screamed and applauded, waving pro-Bush signs in English and Spanish and
shouting "four more years!"
Like most Republican candidates in Florida, Bush's hopes of victory here
rest in large part on the support of the state's sizeable anti-Castro
Cuban exile community.
Earlier, the president's top political strategist, Karl Rove, shouted
"Cuba libre" -- free Cuba -- to reporters travelling with Bush.
The president was to make three stops in this pivotal state before going
to another critical battleground state: Ohio, without which no modern
Republican has won the White House.
Bush, First Lady Laura Bush, and Florida Governor Jeb Bush, the
president's brother, began the day attending Catholic mass at the Church
of the Epiphany, where Monseigneur Jude O'Doherty all but endorsed his
reelection bid.
"What a great privilege it is for all of us to pray with the most
powerful man on the face of the Earth," said O'Doherty, who praised
Bush's stances against abortion and euthanasia and for limiting
embryonic stem cell research.
Before the president arrived in Miami, a small army of speakers --
including Mexican-born actress and singer Lucia Mendez -- extolled him
and attacked Kerry as the crowd slowly swelled to a few thousand.
Republican Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen pointed to elections in
Afghanistan and plans for elections in Iraq and said that Bush was
committed to "help bring about that same freedom, that same democracy
... to the oppressed and long-suffering people of Cuba."
Another speaker strongly suggested that terrorists hoped for a Kerry
victory, pointedly asking "who do the enemies of America favor?" and
then thanking Bush for the global war on extremist violence.
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