There have been angry reactions in Cuba over the US Senate vote to end the embargo on sales of food and medicine because it forbids American funding for the food sales, and also imposes new travel curbs.
The restrictions are seen as a success for the anti-Castro organisations in Florida which lobbied for the curbs.
Politicians in the two major parties are wooing the Cuban exile vote in Florida which is seen as a crucial state in November's elections.
President Fidel Castro led a huge march in Havana after the Senate vote to protest against the funding restrictions and the travel curbs which could hurt tourism.
Dr Castro called the Senate Bill insulting and "humiliating" for Cuba. It would be "impossible in practice", he said.
Cubans are also angry that Americans will now believe that that the sanctions imposed almost 40 years ago are now effectively lifted when this is not really the case.
The Communist Party newspaper, Granma, said the march was held to show the world "and especially American public opinion what our people think of the gross lie that the genocidal blockade has been softened". The US trade embargo goes back to 1962 after the Cuban government seized more than 6,000 American-owned properties. US farming and business interests have been campaigning for a relaxation of the embargo to allow them to sell food products to a market only 200 miles away. Cuba imports about $750 million in food annually for its 11 million population.
Under the Bill approved by the Senate and expected to be signed by President Clinton, Cuba would not be allowed to receive US government credit or private financing to pay for food imports. This means Cuba would have to finance such imports from foreign banks or private sources which could be difficult. President Clinton is permitted to issue a waiver on the credit restriction but Cuba seems unlikely to seek one.
Cuba withdrew from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in the 1960s and so cannot receive any financing from them. But under the new law, American agri-business companies can ship grain and other crops to Cuba through foreign subsidiaries which could provide credit for Cuban purchases.
The Senate and House of Representatives originally voted to lift the ban on food and medicine exports to Cuba, Iran, Sudan, Libya and North Korea but in the final vote, the lobbying by some Cuban-American politicians attached the restrictive conditions. The existing travel restrictions for US citizens have been reinforced in the new law.
Republican Presidential candidate, Governor George Bush, condemned the Senate vote as making concessions to Cuba. A spokesman said Mr Bush "opposes changing the sanctions against Cuba until Fidel Castro or the Cuban government allow free elections, free speech and freedom of political prisoners".
AFP adds:
An Istanbul-based joint venture between Turkish and Cuban tobacco companies will start cigar production in January, a Turkish minister said yesterday.
Turkey will invite Dr Castro to the inauguration of the plant, the State Minister, Mr Rustu Kazim Yucelen, said after meeting the Cuban Light Industry Minister, Mr Jesus Perez Othon, in Ankara, according to Anatolia news agency.