Castro’s ashes resume trip:

A convoy carrying the ashes of late Cuban leader Fidel Castro resumed an island-wide tour on Thursday after spending a symbolic night at the mausoleum of his comrade-inarms Ernesto “Che” Guevara.

A jeep pulling a cedar urn holding the ashes entered the monument to Guevara in the city of Santa Clara after midnight, hours after it left Havana on a four-day trip across Cuba.

Crowds lined up for a second day on the roads of Cuba to bid farewell to Castro, who died Friday at age 90. He ruled the Caribbean island from 1959 until an illness forced him to hand power to his brother, Raul, in 2006.

Two days of massive tributes were held at Havana’s Revolution Square this week before the communist leader’s remains were taken on the road to be laid to rest in the southeastern city of Santiago de Cuba on Sunday.

The “caravan of freedom” is taking the reverse route of the victory tour that Castro took to celebrate his victory over dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959. (AFP)