Obama denounced at Miami health rally

MIAMI, Aug. 23 (UPI) -- Hundreds of Miami healthcare reform protesters, gathered at a "Recess Rally," compared U.S. President Barack Obama to communists, witnesses said.

At the Saturday protest, people opposed to Obama's healthcare proposals carried signs that superimposed the president's portrait over the silhouette of Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara and distorted Obama's image to resemble the comic book villain The Joker, The Miami Herald reported.

The protesters organized through the Internet, and were reportedly comprised largely of 55-and-older Cuban and Latino men and women.

"I don't like the system he's proposing because he wants to control when people die," Hibia Couce, a 73-year-old retired school teacher who left Cuba 50 years ago, told the newspaper. "That reminds me of Fidel Castro."

"Part of the bill calls for minimizing payments to Medicare and doctors. That is a way of rationing care," added Carmen Sola-Llonch. The Herald described her as 69 years old and concerned that the reforms would end up with her being denied care if she gets sick.