HAVANA, July 28 (Reuters) - Scores of U.S. sympathisers with the Cuban government began a three-day solidarity meeting on Tuesday with the aim of promoting grass-roots relations between the long-standing political foes.
As with other solidarity events held in Cuba, state-run news media gave prominent coverage to the opening of the First Cuban-American Friendship Conference in the village of Cojimar, east of Havana.
``I believe that the fact that within the United States there exists a movement of citizens who support us...and oppose (U.S.) policy...has great importance,'' said Sergio Corrieri, head of the government organising body, the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples.
Those attending the conference reiterated their opposition to the United States' 36-year-old economic embargo on the communist-run island.
``For the eighth time we have broken the blockade,'' said the Rev. Lucius Walker, who heads Pastors for Peace, a U.S.-based group which challenges the embargo by making humanitarian aid deliveries to the island without seeking the required licenses.
Walker added that the group's latest cargo to Cuba was more diverse than previous ones, and the ``caravan'' accompanying it included a large number of young Americans.
Since President Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution, solidarity groups have regularly visited the island, attending key political events and often assisting in sugar harvests.
18:19 07-28-98