Fidel Castro Death as Reported in Cuba and World
The Fidel Castro death brings emotions to the forefront.To me Fidel Castro was a man who pulled off an amazing revolution, against all odds. He seemed to be backed into corners and made bad deals out of necessity. He was kept under pressure by US backed attempts on his life and the embargo. Like him or not, he never backed down. Unfortunately, it was his people who lost in this struggle and paid the price in living conditions. Here is how the death is being reported in different places in the world.
Fidel is Cuba
In commemorating Fidel Castro death, Granma has published images of him over the decades.
“Fidel is an island that sails toward the isle of Utopia, Fidel is Cuba, which will not lower its sails, always in stormy seas, looking for itself, reconstructing itself to reach the greatest justice possible-impossible, the greatest solidarity, beauty. Fidel has set sail, 60 years after the first time, on the seas of history. Long live Fidel! Long Live the Cuban Revolution.”
Fidel Castro Death Casts Pall Over Cuba – Dissidents Hold Off Protest
Cuba’s most prominent dissident group called off its weekly protest march for the first time in 13 years on Sunday following the death of its nemesis Fidel Castro, the revolutionary leader whose passing has cast a pall over the island.
The Cuban government has declared a nine-day period of mourning and suspended alcohol sales and even baseball games.
The Ladies in White dissident group decided to avoid creating tensions this week.
“We’re not going to march today so that the government does not take it as a provocation and so that they can pay their tributes,” the group’s leader, Berta Soler, said on Sunday. “We respect the mourning of others and will not celebrate the death of any human being.”
The group, originally formed in support of husbands jailed for political opposition, has called protest marches in Havana following Mass at a Roman Catholic Church each Sunday for the past 13 years.
It has been the rare expression of dissent to be largely tolerated by the Communist government, although police have clamped down over the past several months, stopping protesters in their homes and preventing the demonstrations from taking place.
HAVANA — Regional leaders and tens of thousands of Cubans jammed the Plaza of the Revolution on Tuesday night, celebrating Fidel Castro on the spot where he delivered fiery speeches to mammoth crowds in the years after he seized power.
The presidents of Mexico, Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela and South Africa, along with leaders of a host of smaller nations, offered speeches paying tribute to Castro, who died Friday night at 90.
South African President Jacob Zuma praised Cuba under Castro for its record on education and health care and its support for African independence struggles.
Castro will be remembered as “a great fighter for the idea that the poor have a right to live with dignity,” Zuma told the crowd.
The rally began with black-and-white revolution-era footage of Castro and other guerrillas on a big screen and the playing of the Cuban national anthem. Castro’s younger brother and successor, President Raul Castro, saluted.
Raul Castro closed the rally with a speech thanking world leaders for their words of praise for his brother, whom he called the leader of a revolution “for the humble, and by the humble.”
The BBC Reports on Fidel Castro death from Revolutionary Square Mourning
Revolutionary Square in Havana has witnessed some of Fidel Castro’s most historic moments. From his famously long speeches to the visit of Pope John Paul II, it is an iconic, almost sacred place for the Cuban Revolution.
But on Monday, it was home to tens of thousands of mourners. From babies in their parents’ arms to the elderly and frail, people from across Cuban society turned out from early morning to bid him goodbye.
Doctors in white jackets, nurses in uniform, soldiers, students and teachers, all of them speaking in the same hushed tones, careful to behave with dignity under the watchful eye of the state security officers.
Some may have been government-organised – schoolchildren and other groups were bussed in – but many were there of their own free will.