MSNBC reports and The Latin Americanist posts,
Colom said Tuesday that "Cuba deserves its own destiny, a destiny that you all built with this revolution of 50 years."
"Defend it," he said, referring to the guerrilla uprising that brought Castro to power on Jan. 1, 1959. "Defend it like you have always done."
Colom's comments drew sustained applause from his Cuban audience.
Like Cubans, Guatemalans harbor a deep resentment toward the United States for past violence. The CIA helped topple the democratically elected government of Jacobo Arbenz in 1954 and Washington backed a series of hardline military and civilian governments during that country's 36-year civil war, in which 200,000 Guatemalans died or disappeared before peace accords were signed in December 1996.
