THE LEGACY OF FIDEL CASTRO
Thousands of Cubans pay homage to Castro
Gun salute signals start of official tributes to Fidel Castro in Havana, where tens of thousands of Cubans are filing through three rooms in the capital’s memorial to national hero Jose Marti.
Leaders and dignitaries from around the world were due to arrive in Cuba on Tuesday as part of the Caribbean nation’s week-long farewell to Fidel Castro, the revolutionary icon and president who died last week aged 90.
Havana’s Plaza of the Revolution will open again Tuesday for mourners to place flowers and Cuban flags to commemorate the communist leader. Thousands of Cubans paid their last respects to Castro in Cuba’s capital on Monday. He was cremated on Saturday.
Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro and Mexico’s Enrique Peña Nieto were among the leaders expected to travel to Havana for memorial tributes Tuesday. President Obama said he won’t attend nor will Russian President Vladimir Putin.
On Wednesday, the ashes of the man who ruled Cuba for nearly half a century will start a ceremonial journey to the eastern city of Santiago, where in 1953 he first launched his ultimately successful revolution to take over Cuba.
Castro’s ashes will be interred in Santiago on Dec. 4.
For many, Castro is remembered as a brutal dictator who suppressed democracy and human rights and ruined Cuba’s economy. To his admirers, his reign represents an attempt to forge a socialist society that sent Cuban doctors and teachers around the world. Castro was succeeded as president by his brother Raul in 2008.
The first regularly scheduled commercial flight from the United States to Cuba since 1961 landed in Havana on Monday.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/11/29/cuba-continues-week-long-farewell-castro/94590524/
