Castro's popularity resurges

.nzoom.com. Thousands of Argentine supporters of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro broke through security on Monday, creating pandemonium and forcing authorities to cancel Castro's first speech in Argentina.

The University of Buenos Aires Law School was slated to host Castro's speech in the homeland of fellow revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevarra.

Supporters of Castro overran security to overflow an auditorium beyond double its 3,200-seat capacity.

Castro is in Argentina to participate in the inauguration of President Nester Kirchner, the country's sixth president in 18 months. Kirchner, a centre-left politician, has called for greater ties among nations in Latin America, and he has vowed to defend jobs and industry in Argentina, which has suffered through five years of recession.

Half of Argentina's 36.2 million population is at or below the poverty line.

Castro twice has visited Argentina since seizing power in Cuba in 1959, but thiswas to be his first address to the nation and a rare one for the Cuban leader.

Castro was a frequent critic of US-backed free market policies that were heartily adopted by Argentina in the 1990s. But with election of a centre-left Argentine president emphasising social justice, Castro felt the time was right to address Argentina.

Although the United States has tried to isolate Cuba in Latin America, elections of left-leaning presidents in Brazil, Venezuela, Peru, Chile, Ecuador and Argentina have won Castro political support he has not enjoyed for a decade.

Source: AAP