Castro vows to defend brother’s legacy in tribute
Late leader had requested no monuments or statues should be erected in his honor
Cuban President Raul Castro pledged on Saturday to uphold his brother Fidel’s socialist revolution at a massive rally in honor of the late leader before his burial on Sunday.
Tens of thousands of flagwaving supporters recited the oath with Raul Castro at the Revolution Plaza of Santiago de Cuba, the cradle of Fidel’s guerrilla struggle.
“He demonstrated that yes we could, yes we can, yes we will overcome any obstacle, threat, turbulence in our firm resolve to build socialism in Cuba,” he said.
“In front of Fidel’s remains ... we swear to defend the fatherland and socialism,” said Castro, who took over when his brother fell ill in 2006.
“Fidel! Fidel! Until victory, always!” Castro said at the evening rally attended by foreign leaders, including Cuba’s Latin American allies from Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua, but also figures such as Argentine football legend Diego Maradona.
Capping a nine-day mourning period, Castro’s ashes were interred on Sunday during a ceremony at Santa Ifigenia Cemetery, near the mausoleum of 19thcentury independence hero Jose Marti.
But Castro said that before dying at the age of 90 on Nov 25, his brother requested that no monuments or statues be erected in his honor, and that no streets or buildings be named after him.
Legislation will be pre- sented at the next national assembly, which meets later in December, to fulfill his dying wish, Castro said.
A convoy carrying a cedar urn containing his ashes had arrived in Santiago earlier in the day following a four-day, 900-kilometer funeral procession across the country.
Children in school uniforms, veterans in military fatigues and entire families waved Cuban flags and chanted “Fidel!” to greet the “caravan of freedom.”
Like a ‘father’
Santiago holds a special place in Castro’s life.
On July 26, 1953, the Castro brothers launched a failed attack on the Moncada military barracks in Santiago.
Although the rebels were jailed, the raid put Castro on the map and he would eventually go into exile in Mexico.
Three years after the Mon- cada defeat, the Castro brothers and their band of bearded rebels returned to Cuba aboard a ship.
The rebels launched a guerrilla war in the Sierra Maestra mountains that ended in triumph against US-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista on Jan 1, 1959.
Following their victory, Castro celebrated by touring the island from Santiago to Havana. This week’s “caravan of freedom” took his ashes on the reverse route.
In Santiago, several people said they would spend the night at the Revolution Plaza.
“I am very sad because we have lost a father,” said Marta Loida, a 36-year-old university professor sitting on the ground and holding a picture of Fidel Castro.
“It’s as if we don’t want to say goodbye,” she said. “We want to keep him company all night under the stars.”