HAVANA, Cuba (AP) -- A little less than three weeks before the 40th
                  anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion, President Fidel Castro said Saturday that
                  his imperialist enemies would suffer similarly devastating failures in the future.

                  "Maybe it will be a few years, but they will continue suffering defeat after defeat
                  and the only victories they have will be sterile," Castro said in a speech before
                  about 200,000 people in the capital.

                  The U.N. Human Rights Commission, based in Geneva, is slated to vote during
                  the week of April 19 on a motion to censure Cuba for its poor human rights
                  record. The 40th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion is April 17-19.

                  The motion was proposed by the Czech Republic and is backed by the United
                  States. The Czechs persuaded human rights commission members to approve a
                  similar censure against Cuba last year.

                  On April 17-19, 1961, about 1,500 anti-Castro Cuban exiles, trained by the CIA,
                  invaded the Bay of Pigs on the island's southeastern shores in an attempt to
                  overthrow Castro's communist government, which had seized power 28 months
                  before.

                  The three-day invasion failed. Without U.S. air support and running short of
                  ammunition, more than 1,000 invaders were captured, many on Giron Beach, a
                  small sand spit in the bay. Another 100 invaders and 151 defenders died.

                  "Only 19 days from the 40th anniversary of that unforgettable battle in which we
                  knew how to defend our country's independence ... in the battle of ideas, we
                  dare to predict that the only thing waiting for the imperialists is another gigantic
                  Giron," Castro said.

                  Copyright 2001 The Associated Press.