Protest rallies were held in countries that included Honduras -- which has sent troops to Iraq -- Chile, Cuba and Venezuela.

Here in Tegucigalpa, hundreds of Hondurans converged at the US embassy to demand the return of 370 Honduran troops from Iraq, where they are under Spanish command.

President Ricardo Maduro said Tuesday he had no plans to prolong his troops' tour beyond their scheduled return in July.

"Bring the soldiers home, let Maduro leave," protestors shouted.

Anti-riot police oversaw the protest as demonstrators called US President George W. Bush a "fascist" on the anniversary of the US-led invasion.

"You're the terrorists," they cried.

The protest was organized by an alliance of unions, farmers, business groups, and women and human rights groups.

Troops from Guatemala and Nicaragua are also in Iraq under Spanish command.

In Chile, some 2,000 anti-globalization and human rights activists joined members of leftist political parties in a march to the downtown presidential palace, where protesters set a US flag ablaze.

"We are against the war and terrorism, because one cannot answer terrorism by invading a country," said Victor de la Fuente, one of the protest organizers.

A separate march was led by the environmental group Greenpeace, and ended outside the US embassy in eastern Santiago.

"This was a military intervention that had no justification," said Gonzalo Villarino, the Greenpeace representative in Chile.

Anti-war marches were also held in Valparaiso, La Serena, and Valdivia.

Chile, a member of the United Nations Security Council, opposed the war in the face of strong pressure from the United States.

In Caracas, hundreds of supporters of leftist President Hugo Chavez met at a downtown plaza to chant "Bush out of Iraq!" and "No to war!"

"Gringos out of Iraq and Venezuela," read one of the protest signs.

"First Afghanistan, then Iraq," said one elderly woman at the protest. "And now they'll be coming for Venezuela."

Chavez has tense relations with Washington, which he says has attempt to orchestrate a coup against him along with the country's political opposition.

In Havana, officials said more than 10,000 Cubans decried the war in a protest in the town of Cueto, 700 kilometers (435 miles) east of Havana, organized by groups associated with the ruling Communist Party.

"The grave situation created by the criminal aggression in Iraq can only be resolved with the unconditional end to the illegal occupation, and with the Iraqi people enjoying its right to absolute independence in a united Iraq free of guardianship," party leaders told the protestors in a statement.

Concerts, art exhibits and conferences to protest the war were planned throughout the Caribbean country of 11 million.

The United States has had a full economic embargo on Cuba since 1961, two years after President Fidel Castro took power.

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