The city commission earlier this month appointed a committee - whose official job is to ``discuss an event at the Orange Bowl in case expected events occur in Cuba'' - to plan the party. Such a gathering has long been part of the city's Castro death plan, but the specifics have become more urgent since Fidel Castro

became ill last summer and turned over power to his brother, Raul.

The Orange Bowl was the site of a speech by US President John F. Kennedy in 1961 promising a free Cuba, and in the 1980s it served as a camp for refugees from the Mariel boatlift from Cuba.

``(Castro) represents everything bad that has happened to the people of Cuba for 48 years,'' City Commissioner Tomas Regalado, a Cuban American who came up with the idea, told The Miami Herald newspaper. ``There is something to celebrate, regardless of what happens next.... we get rid of the guy.

``Basically, the only thing we are trying to do is have a giant venue ready for people, if they wish, to show their emotions. It is not that we are doing an official death party,'' Regalado said today.

The plans have been criticised on local Spanish-language radio, as many people would prefer to celebrate on the streets of the Little Havana neighbourhood.