- Title: Cubans react to Castro's death
- Date: 26th November 2016
- Summary: HAVANA, CUBA (NOVEMBER 25, 2016) (REUTERS) CARS PASSING BY CUBANS SURROUNDING SHOPPING CART (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE HAVANA RESIDENT SAYING: "It's a normal life process. It was news that no one is ever ready to receive. Less so, news of the Commander's death." NIGHTTIME SCENES OF THE STREETS OF HAVANA, TRAFFIC PASSING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) UNIDENTIFIED MALE HAVANA RESIDENT SAYING: "For everyone who's involved in this, it's something that's so macabre. Something so difficult to hear when I heard the news." CUBAN YOUTH WALKING ALONG THE STREETS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) YOUTH FROM HAVANA SAYING: "Well, I feel a bit shaken, I just don't understand. He was a public figure that everybody loved and respected." PEOPLE WALKING ON THE STREET
- Embargoed: 11th December 2016 06:27
- Keywords: Castro revolution Fidel reactions Raul
- Location: HAVANA, CUBA
- City: HAVANA, CUBA
- Country: Cuba
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0015A2XZK7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Havana residents were enjoying a Friday (November 26) like any other when they were hit with the news that would make history -- the death of former Cuban leader, Fidel Castro.
Endearingly called "El Comandante" - or commander - by locals, residents young and old on the streets were devastated by the news.
"It was news that no one is ever ready to receive. Less so, news of the Commander's death," said one woman.
Another youth on the street with his friend after a night out held the former Cuban leader in high esteem.
"Well, I feel a bit shaken, I just don't understand. He was a public figure that everybody loved and respected," the young man said.
The death of Castro, the Cuban revolutionary leader who built a communist state on the doorstep of the United States and for five decades defied U.S. efforts to topple him, died on Friday (November 25) at 10:29pm (0329 gmt) 2016, his younger brother announced to the nation. He was 90.
A towering figure of the second half of the 20th Century, Castro had been in poor health since an intestinal ailment nearly killed him in 2006. He formally ceded power to his younger brother two years later.
In his final years, Fidel Castro no longer held leadership posts. He wrote newspaper commentaries on world affairs and occasionally met with foreign leaders but he lived in semi-seclusion.
His death - which would once have thrown a question mark over Cuba's future - seems unlikely to trigger a crisis as Raul Castro, 85, is firmly ensconced in power.
Still, the passing of the man known to most Cubans as "El Comandante" or simply "Fidel" leaves a huge void in the country he dominated for so long. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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