Camaguey readies for arrival of Fidel Castro's funeral cortege

Record ID: 74996

  • Title: Camaguey readies for arrival of Fidel Castro's funeral cortege
  • Date: 1st December 2016
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) LOCAL, LUIS VIDAL, SAYING: "It don't think it is the last goodbye, but it's forever, because I think he hasn't died. He has crossed to immortality, he has taken a great step to immortality."
  • Embargoed: 16th December 2016 21:02
  • Keywords: Camaguey Fidel Castro funeral cortege comandante
  • Location: CAMAGUEY, CUBA
  • City: CAMAGUEY, CUBA
  • Country: Cuba
  • Reuters ID: LVA0055B20XMV
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Residents of the Cuban city of Camaguey filled the local Revolution Plaza ahead of the arrival of Fidel Castro's ashes, paying their final respects to the former leader who launched the Cuban Revolution six decades ago.
    A funeral cortege has carried the ashes across the country as part of a three-day journey to Castro's final resting place in the east of the island.
    Camaguey local Claudia Moreno told Reuters that Castro's revolution will continue to live on in the memories of Cubans.
    "The people of Camaguey and the Cuban people in general never hopes for his physical disappearance, but the memory, and the revolution which we enjoy today will stay on in our memories and for the rest of the world too," she said.
    Castro died on Friday (November 25) at age 90, a decade after stepping down due to poor health and ceding power to his brother, current Cuban President Raul Castro, 85.
    For many Castro supporters, his passing cements his immortality in the Caribbean nation.
    "It don't think it is the last goodbye, but it's forever, because I think he hasn't died. He has crossed to immortality, he has taken a great step to immortality," said local, Luis Vidal.
    The ashes will be interred on Sunday (December 04) morning in Santiago de Cuba, where Castro first launched his revolutionary movement in 1953 with an assault on the Moncada barracks.
    The eastward journey reverses the path taken by Castro's bearded rebels upon the overthrow of U.S.-backed strongman Fulgencio Batista, who fled Cuba on January 1, 1959.
    Castro spent a week traversing the island on the way to Havana, building his popularity by stopping in towns along the way.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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