- Title: Fidel Castro's legacy lingers in Cuba
- Date: 24th November 2017
- Summary: HAVANA, CUBA (NOVEMBER 23, 2017) (REUTERS) GENERAL VIEW, BUILDINGS IN OLD HAVANA WITH NATIONAL CAPITOL BUILDING IN BACKGROUND WALL WITH IMAGES OF FORMER CUBAN PRESIDENT, FIDEL CASTRO, AND CUBAN FLAG AT ENTRANCE TO SCHOOL COLLAGE WITH VARIOUS IMAGES OF FIDEL CASTRO GENERAL VIEW, PEOPLE WALKING ON STREET 2018 CALENDAR ON SALE WITH IMAGE OF FIDEL CASTRO CLOSE SHOT, CALENDAR P
- Embargoed: 8th December 2017 15:08
- Keywords: Cuba Fidel Castro anniversary death Raul Castro communist state
- Location: HAVANA, CUBA
- City: HAVANA, CUBA
- Country: Cuba
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA00178U1X6V
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Cuba is marking the first anniversary of the death of revolutionary leader Fidel Castro on Saturday with a week of vigils nationwide, as the island embarks on a political cycle that will end 60 years of Castro brothers' rule.
Fidel, a towering figure of the 20th century who built a Communist-run state on the doorstep of the United States and defied relentless U.S. efforts to topple him, died aged 90 on Nov. 25 last year.
The Cold War icon had already been largely out of public view for around a decade, however, having ceded the presidency to his younger brother Raul Castro in 2008 due to ill health and many Cubans say his death changed little on the island.
The pace of reforms instigated by Raul to update the Soviet-style command economy has continued as hesitantly as before, while Cuba's relationship with the United States has actually worsened due to U.S. President Donald Trump's more hostile stance.
More significant politically, analyst say, will be the electoral cycle that kicks off on Sunday (November 26) with a municipal vote and is set to end with the selection of a new president in late February. Raul, 86, has said he would step down at the end of his two consecutive terms.
Even then, he will remain head of the Communist Party, the only legal party in Cuba, suggesting the political transition will be gradual. It comes as the country faces a tricky time with a decline in aid from ally Venezuela, weaker exports and a resulting cash crunch.
By the time of his death, Castro had been out of the public limelight since an intestinal ailment nearly killed him in 2006, albeit occasionally writing columns on world and local matters and receiving foreign dignitaries at his home.
His death last year plunged the country into nine days of national mourning and a funeral cortege carried his ashes on a three-day journey from Havana to his final resting place in the east of the island, where he launched the Cuban revolution six decades ago.
"I am Fidel" became a nation-wide chant, as Cubans pledged to stay faithful to the revolution he led that in 1959 overthrew a U.S.-backed dictator.
In keeping with his wishes to avoid a personality cult, no statues have been made of Castro or public places named after him in Cuba. Even his tomb is a sober affair, a large granite boulder in Santiago's Santa Ifigenia Cemetery with a plaque simply reading "Fidel".
Students around the country will hold vigils for Fidel at their universities on Saturday (November 25), while cultural institutions like the national ballet say they are dedicating their shows this weekend to his memory.
The municipal vote on Sunday (November 26), the only part of the electoral process with direct participation by ordinary Cubans, is also being cast in state-run media as a show of support for his ideas.
It will be followed by provincial and national assembly elections in which candidates are selected from slates by commissions. The new national assembly will then in late February select a successor to Castro, widely expected to be First Vice-President Miguel Diaz-Canel. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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