People stunned in Cuba’s capital, while thousands of people banged pots with spoons and whooped in jubilation as news broke in the US
ubans will likely forever remember where they were when Fidel Castro’s death was announced. The music stopped across the dancehappy city and people rushed to awaken loved ones with the news.
Parties shut down and the bustling streets emptied after President Raul Castro, Fidel’s 85-year-old younger brother, made the announcement on state television around midnight Friday.
“Everyone was stunned. It was a very sad moment,” said Yaimara Gomez, who was working in a hotel at the time.
Unlike various occasions over the years, this time it was not a hoax: the man most Cubans had grown up with as their country’s leader had died.
“With great pain I appear before you to inform our people and our friends in the Americas and the world that today, November 25 at 10:29pm, the Commander in Chief of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, passed away,” the president said.
Car washer Marco Antonio Diez, 20, was out at a party when the music suddenly stopped. “I went home and woke up everyone, saying: ‘Fidel has died’,” he said. “My mother was astonished.”
As the news spread, crowds danced and celebrated in the streets of Miami, home to the largest Cuban exile community and their descendants. But in Havana, locals mourned.
“Losing Fidel is like losing a father - the guide, the beacon of this revolution,” said Michel Rodriguez, a 42-year-old baker.
He was still in his shop late at night when he heard the news on the radio. The government decreed nine days of mourning and ordered flags to be flown at half-mast.
Castro’s ashes will be buried in the historic southeastern city of Santiago de Cuba on December 4 after a four-day procession through the country, it added.
Santiago was the scene of Castro’s ill-fated first revolution attempt in 1953.
In Miami, thousands of people banged pots with spoons, waved Cuban flags in the air and whooped in jubilation on Calle Ocho — 8th Street, and the heart of the neighborhood — early yesterday. Honking and strains of salsa music from car stereos echoed against stucco buildings, and fireworks lit up the humid night sky.
Police blocked off streets leading to Cafe Versailles, the quintessential Cuban American hotspot where strong cafecitos - sweetened espresso - were as common as a harsh word about Fidel Castro. “Cuba si! Castro
Aug 13, 1926: Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz
born to wealthy sugar planter and maid
Becomes involved in revolutionary politics while studying law at University of Havana
Candidate for Congress, but election is cancelled after coup led by
1945-50: 1952:
General Fulgencio Batista 1953:
Castro leads unsuccessful revolt in July 26 attack on Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba. Castro and younger brother taken prisoner – released two years later as part of general amnesty
Relocates to Mexico to reorganize into disciplined guerrilla force
Castro and 80 rebels land in Cuba from yacht but are ambushed. 12 survivors – including and
– take to Sierra Maestra mountains to wage guerrilla war
Castro leads 9,000-strong guerrilla army into Havana, forcing Batista to flee
1955: 26th of July Movement Dec 2, 1956:
Raúl “Che” Guevara
1959:
Raúl Granma, Ernesto
no!” they chanted, while others screamed “Cuba libre!”
Celebration, not grief, the atmosphere.
That was no surprise. Castro has cast a shadow over Miami for decades, and in many ways, his policy and his power have shaped the city and its inhabitants.
Cubans fled the island to Miami, Tampa, New Jersey and elsewhere after Castro took power in 1959.
Some were loyalists of Fulgencio Batista, the president prior to Castro, while others left with the hope they would be able to return soon, after Castro was toppled. He never was.
Many others believed they would not be truly free under Castro and his communist regime. Thousands left behind their possessions, loved ones, permeated
1960-61:
Forges close alliance with Soviet Union, led by
Nikita Khrushchev.
Mariel US breaks off diplomatic relations and imposes commercial embargo after Castro nationalizes all US interests US sponsors abortive invasion by 1,300 CIA-trained Cuban exiles at
–
1961: Bay of Pigs
misjudging support in Cuba for Castro
Havana
Presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba brings world to brink of nuclear war.
Cuban Missile Crisis
only resolved when Soviets remove weapons after President secretly agrees to withdraw US missiles from Turkey Castro sends troops to support Communist forces in Angola, Ethiopia and Yemen Communist Party of Cuba approves new socialist constitution – Castro elected president
John F. Kennedy 1975-1989: 1976:
Pinar del Río
1962:
and hard-earned educations and businesses, travelling to the US by plane, boat or raft. Many Cubans died on the ocean trip to South Florida. And many never returned to see their childhood homes, their neighborhoods, their playgrounds, their businesses, their cousins and aunts and uncles, because Castro was still in power.
Long-anticipated news
FLORIDA Miami
On New Year’s Eve every year, Cubans in Miami utter a toast in Spanish: “Next year in Cuba.” But as the Cuban exiles aged, and as Castro outlived them, and as US President Barack Obama eroded the embargo and younger Cubans returned to the island, the toast rang silent in many households.
In Miami, where Havana is closer both geographically and Santa Clara Santiago de Cuba – Castro allows exodus of 125,000 Cubans to US via port of Mariel
Collapse of Soviet Union leads to crippling financial hardship. To boost economy, Castro allows some economic liberalization and free-market activities while retaining tight political control
Castro welcomes
1980: Mariel Boatlift 1991: 1998: Pope John Paul II
in first visit by pontiff to Cuba
Castro blasts US for detaining prisoners in “concentration camp” at Guantanamo Bay
crackdown on dissidents draws international outcry
Ill health forces Castro to stand down as president at age of 81. Power handed to brother Raúl, 76 The US and Cuba restore diplomatic ties after 54 years, paving way for visit by President
2002: 2003: Black Spring 2015:
Camaguey Guantanamo Bay
2008:
psychologically than Washington, the news of Castro’s death was long anticipated by the exiles who left after Castro took power, and in the decades since. Rumours have come and gone for decades, and Castro’s death had become something of a joke — mostly because it seemed to happen so frequently. This time, though, it was real.
“We’re all celebrating, this is like a carnival,” said 72-yearold Jay Fernandez, who came to Miami when he was 18 in 1961.