Cubans mourn Fidel Castro
‘VIVA FIDEL’: Students at his alma mater wave flags, chant his name
FLAG-WAVING Cuban students broke into a mass chant of “I am Fidel” to salute Fidel Castro as nine days of mourning began for the combative Cold War icon, who dominated the Communist island’s political life for generations.
Alcohol sales were suspended, flags flew at half-staff, and shows and concerts were cancelled after his younger brother and successor, President Raul Castro, announced on Friday that Fidel had died at 10.29pm.
Giant rallies are planned at Revolution Square here and in the eastern city of Santiago to honour Fidel, who died aged 90, six decades after the brothers set out from Mexico to overthrow United States-backed Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista.
Newspapers were printed in black ink to mourn Fidel, instead of the usual red of the official Communist Party daily Granma, and the blue of Juventud Rebelde (Rebel Youth), the paper of the Communist youth.
“For me, it’s my mother first, my children, my father, then Fidel,” father-of-five Rafael Urbay, 60, said as he manned a government photo and printing store here, remembering his early years spent on a remote island with no drinking water.
“We weren’t just poor. We were wretched. Then came Fidel and the revolution. He gave me my humanity. I owe him everything.”
There was no heightened military or police presence to mark the passing of the leader and at Havana University, Fidel’s alma mater, hundreds of students gathered to wave huge Cuban flags and shout
Mexican man is overcome with emotion after placing flowers outside the Cuban embassy in Mexico City.
AHundreds of died on Friday. “Viva Fidel and Viva Raul”.
“Fidel isn’t dead because the people are Fidel,” shouted a student leader.
“I am Fidel,” he continued, a refrain quickly adopted by the crowd.
“Fidel put Cuba on the map, and made Cuba a paradigm for the people of the world, especially the poor and the marginalised,” said student Raul Alejandro Palmeros.
Castro studied law at the university in the late 1940s and early 1950s, when it was a hotbed of leftist politics, setting him on the path that led to his toppling of Batista in 1959.
Fidel’s Cuba became renowned for high education standards and world-class doctors.
“What Fidel did with education and free health stands out on the world stage. It was unique,” said Rene Perez, 78, a retired accountant and Communist Party member.
“It’s his main legacy.”
Life in the capital went on as normal, only quieter and subdued. Nevertheless, it was a day for reflection. Margarita Aguilar kissing her granddaughter A woman Saturday.
“Usually we’re full, but today only tourists have come. It seems Cubans feel funny about enjoying themselves so soon after Fidel died,” said Raul Tamayo, a doorman at a restaurant in Vedado district.
Fidel’s remains were cremated, and his ashes will be taken around Cuba until a state funeral on Dec 4.
Western diplomatic officials said foreign dignitaries would arrive by Tuesday for a memorial service to be held at Revolution Square.
There will be no top-level games of baseball — Fidel’s passion after politics — for the nine-day period of mourning, the sport’s national federation declared.
“Everyone here is sad. Everyone is a Fidelista,” said Anaida Gonzales, a retired nursing professor.
“People are just going about their business, but sad. Me, I’m very sad for my Comandante, it really took me by surprise.”
In Palm Beach, Florida, United States president-elect Donald Trump on Saturday called Fidel a “brutal dictator”, but made no overt mention of earlier threats to roll
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in Havana on back a historic rapprochement with the communist nation.
He “oppressed his own people for nearly six decades”, Trump said.
“Fidel Castro’s legacy is one of firing squads, theft, unimaginable suffering, poverty and the denial of fundamental human rights.”
Trump’s victory earlier this month had cast uncertainty over two years of work by President Barack Obama to end more than 50 years of enmity between the two countries.
“While Cuba remains a totalitarian island, it is my hope that today marks a move away from the horrors endured for too long, and toward a future in which Cubans finally live in the freedom they deserve.”
Trump did not mention Obama’s policy, saying only “our administration will do all it can to ensure the Cuban people can begin their journey toward prosperity and liberty”.
Trump had threatened to reverse the rapprochement if Cuba did not budge on human rights and free its political prisoners. Cuba responded by saying it refused to be dictated by foreign powers. Agencies