World mourns, celebrates Castro Cuban leader''s death elicits mixed response While Cuba will officially mourn the death of Fidel Castro for nine days, not all the country''s citizens are sad at his passing. The Cuban government has declared nine days of national mourning for the death of Fidel Castro, ending when his remains are interred on 4 December.Public activities and events will be cancelled, and the Cuban flag will fly at half-mast. The Council of State says state radio and television “will maintain informative, patriotic and historic programming”.
Cuba''s government says the remains of Fidel Castro will be interred in the eastern city of Santiago that was key to his early life and his revolution.
State media say Cubans throughout the country will be invited to pay homage to Castro on Monday and Tuesday by signing a “solemn oath of complying with the concept of the revolution.”
There will then be a mass gathering in Havana''s Plaza of the Revolution, where Castro often addressed huge crowds.
His ashes will make a cross-country tour starting Wednesday from Havana to Santiago, retracing in reverse the route Castro took when the revolution triumphed in 1959.
He''s to be interred in a Santiago cemetery on 4 December. Castro grew up near Santiago and attended school there as a youth.
Elsewhere in the world, his death caused a mixed reaction. It prompted celebrations among the country''s exiles in Miami, and expressions of sorrow from some world leaders.
Cuba libre
Within half an hour of the Cuban government''s announcement of the death of the 90-year-old revolutionary leader, cheers were heard in Miami''s Little Havana. Thousands of people banged pots, waved Cuban flags and whooped in jubilation. “Cuba si! Castro no!” they chanted, while others screamed “Cuba libre!”
“Feels weird,” said Gabriel Morales, a 40-year-old financial executive in Miami, whose parents left Cuba after Castro came to power.
“Been waiting to hear this news all my life. Seems unreal,” Morales said in a text message to an AP reporter.
However, Castro was mourned by some national leaders including President Hage Geingob.
Salvador Sanchez Ceren, the president of El Salvador, said he felt “deep sorrow ... of my friend and eternal companion, Commander Fidel Castro Ruz.”
Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto tweeted that “Fidel Castro was a friend of Mexico, promoting bilateral relations based on respect, dialogue and solidarity.”
“India mourns the loss of a great friend,” Indian Prime Minister Nerendra Modi said on Twitter.
The country''s president, Pranab Mukherjee tweeted: “Heartfelt condolences on sad demise of Cuba''s revolutionary leader, former president & friend of India, Fidel Castro.”
Peter Hain, a former member of the British Cabinet and anti-apartheid campaigner, tempered praise for Castro with criticism of some aspects of his long rule.
“Although responsible for indefensible human rights and free-speech abuses, Castro created a society of unparalleled access to free health, education and equal opportunity despite an economically throttling USA siege,” Hain said. “His troops inflicted the first defeat on South Africa''s troops in Angola in 1988, a vital turning point in the struggle against apartheid.”
NAMPA/AP