Summary

TAPE_NUMBER: EF00/0873 IN_TIME: 15:26:34 - 18:30:44 // 19:01:29 - 21:30:44 LENGTH: 03:23 SOURCES: CUBAVISION RESTRICTIONS: FEED: VARIOUS (THE ABOVE TIME-CODE IS TIME-OF-DAY) SCRIPT: Natural Sound XFA Cuban President Fidel Castro has described the two candidates running for this year's U-S Presidential as "boring and insipid". He said that both Republican George W Bush and his Democrat counterpart Al Gore lacked historical background or solid principles. Castro's comments came during a speech on Saturday to mark the 47th anniversary of the attack that started his revolution. More than 40 years ago, Fidel Castro launched a revolution to topple a dictatorship and change the lives of Cubans. Today, that revolution has taken on another mission: pressuring the United States to be less harsh towards the communist island. On Saturday, Fidel Castro addressed more than 200,000 people in the western provincial capital of Pinar del Rio on Saturday . Before he addressed the crowd, there was music and dancing to mark the occasion. A march on July 26 was the first of this year's events to celebrate the start of the revolution, drawing a crowd in Havana that the government estimated at more than 1 million. Castro did not speak then, but he donned sneakers with his olive green uniform to join participants down the capital's Malecon coastal highway. On July 29, in the central city of Santa Clara, Castro spoke to another crowd and attacked the administration of U-S President Bill Clinton for trying to undermine the socialist revolution by increasing contacts between Americans and Cubans. The large gatherings are part of a continuing national campaign to keep up the pressure on the United States to change its policies toward Cuba in the wake of 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez's return to the communist island in late June. The communist government has focused primarily on the Cuban Adjustment Act, a 1966 U-S law that allows Cubans who reach American soil to apply for permanent residency. Havana blamed that law for the protracted international custody battle over Elian and says it encourages Cubans to undertake illegal and risky sea journeys to the United States. Havana also has stepped up its campaign against the 38-year-old U-S trade embargo, which has become the focus of growing debate in the U-S Congress in recent months. More lawmakers than ever have been pushing to at least ease the sanctions to allow unrestricted sales of food and medicine to the island. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) "But perhaps never before, in times as complex and chaotic as those facing humanity today, have we witnessed a contest between two such boring and insipid candidates - totally lacking in background history and solid opinions and principles." SUPERCAPTION: Fidel Castro, Cuban President SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) "No matter who is elected to lead the empire, he should not ignore the fact that Cuba demands a total end to the murderous Cuban Adjustment Act and the criminal pieces of legislation that bear the regrettably well-known names of Torricelli and Helms Burton." SUPERCAPTION: Fidel Castro, Cuban President SHOTLIST: Pinar del Rio, Cuba - August 5 2000 1. Wide of crowd 2. Mid shot of Castro 3. Wide shot of crowd waving flags 4. Aerial of crowd 5. Mid shot of soldiers in the crowd 6. Close of Cuban flag 7. Mid shot of Castro 8. Close of flag 9. Soldiers saluting in crowd 10. Pan of crowd 11. Close of Castro 12. Mid shot of crowd cheering 13. Wide of dancers on stage 14. Close of dancers performing 15. Zoom out of guitar playing 16. Band playing 17. Wide of dancers on stage 18. Various of dancers 19. Wide of dancers against sunlight 20. Rare shot Castro giving speech 21. Wide of Crowd 22. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Fidel Castro, Cuban President 23. Cutaway crowd 24. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Fidel Castro, Cuban President 25. Crowd 26. Rear shot Castro addressing crowd ?