.c The Associated Press
By JOHN RICE
MEXICO CITY (AP) - Elected to a fifth term as president, Fidel Castro vowed socialism in Cuba will outlive him and denounced a U.S. aid proposal for the island.
Castro's seven-hour speech to the opening of a new session of parliament ended shortly after midnight Wednesday - its marathon length reminiscent of his speeches in the early years after his 1959 revolution.
The 601-member parliament, elected in January, opened its five-year term Tuesday by re-electing Castro and other top members of the Council of State, which works in conjunction with the Cabinet. Castro was the only presidential candidate, and all the deputies were elected unchallenged.
In his wide-ranging speech, Castro, 71, declared Cuba's single-party communist system "untouchable'' and said those who predict a "post-Castro transformation'' are wrong.
"To suppose that the death of one individual could liquidate the work of a people ... is really ridiculous,'' Castro said. His remarks were relayed by reporters in Havana and by the Cuban government's Prensa Latina news agency, monitored in Mexico City.
Castro also denounced a proposal before the U.S. Congress to distribute limited aid through U.S. charitable organization as "humiliating.''
"We accept with dignity that any country wants to help us,'' he said. "But we are not disposed to play the role of beggars.''
He ridiculed those who believe that easing the U.S. embargo of Cuba would help topple socialism by bringing greater contact with Americans.
"We accept the challenge,'' he said. "Let them (Americans) come. We will treat them excellently.''
Castro also took issue with Pope John Paul II's calls during a January visit to Cuba to outlaw abortion and to sharply restrict divorce, although he said the government does not encourage those practices.
"We do not like divorce, nor do we like abortion,'' Castro said. But Cuba would not force women to have children, nor would it "return to the Middle Ages and invent anew the chastity belt.''
He suggested Cubans should limit such practices themselves by acting "in a conscious and responsible way,'' saying an outright ban "would be absurd.''
Castro complained that critics accused Cuba of being anti-family because of its efforts to bring equality for women.
"Ask if in the United States, and in the rest of Latin America, women earn as much as men,'' Castro said - without noting that Cuba's depressed economy means wages average only about $10 a month, not counting government-subsidized food and other benefits.
Castro has been Cuba's unchallenged leader since 1959, even though he was only elected president in 1976.
AP-NY-02-25-98 1710EST