Havana ? Fidel Castro told Americans on Saturday that they should never fear an attack by Cuba and can always count on this communist country’s support in the war against terrorism.

In his first public comments since President Bush’s tough Cuba speech on Monday, Castro told a rally of several hundred thousand people that Cuba did not fault Americans for their government’s restrictions on the communist island and recognized that many U.S. citizens support improved relations.

“Our struggle is not and never will be against the people of the United States,” Castro said during the morning rally in the provincial capital of Sancti Spiritus, about 215 miles southeast of Havana.

“Cuba will never place blame or sow hate against the people of the United States for the aggressions that we have suffered because of their governments,” Castro told a crowd the government estimated at 300,000 a figure impossible to verify independently.

Americans should never fear that Cuba would attack their country, Castro said in a 20-minute speech that he said was aimed largely at U.S. citizens.

Castro’s speech seemed designed to engage Americans who support changes in U.S. policy toward Cuba. It also seemed aimed at assuaging any fears Americans may feel about Cuba after recent charges by the Bush administration that the communist island sponsors terrorism and could be developing germ warfare.

In Bush’s speech Monday, he said that trade sanctions against Cuba would not be lifted until Castro agreed to free all political prisoners, allowed independently monitored elections and agreed to a series of other conditions for a “new government that is fully democratic.”

Bush’s decision to keep up the pressure on Castro comes amid growing moves in the opposite direction by Americans who want the embargo to be eased or lifted. Farm lobbying groups, many members of Congress and a growing number of Washington policy groups have come out against the sanctions in recent weeks.

During his visit to Cuba earlier this month, former President Jimmy Carter also called for an end to the restrictions.