Fidel Castro, Former Cuban Leader Dies At 90
MEP: Fidel Castro, Cuba’s former president, who brought the Cold War to the Western Hemisphere in 1959 and then defied the United States for nearly half a century has died on Friday at the age of 90.
Cuban government has declared nine days of national mourning.
During the mourning period, all public events and activities will cease, the national flag will fly at half-mast on public buildings and at military facilities and television and radio will broadcast informative, patriotic and historical programs.
A towering figure of the second half of the 20th Century, Castro stuck to his ideology beyond the collapse of Soviet communism and remained widely respected in parts of the world that had struggled against colonial rule.
His supporters said he had given Cuba back to the people. Critics saw him as a dictator.
In declining health for several years, Mr. Castro had orchestrated what he hoped would be the continuation of his Communist revolution, stepping aside in 2006 when he was felled by a serious illness.
He provisionally ceded much of his power to his younger brother Raúl, now 85, and two years later formally resigned as president.
Raúl Castro, who had fought alongside Fidel Castro from the earliest days of the insurrection and remained minister of defense and his brother’s closest confidant, has ruled Cuba since then, although he has told the Cuban people he intends to resign in 2018.
The news of Castro’s death spread slowly among Friday night revelers on the streets of Havana. One famous club that was still open when word came in quickly closed.
Some residents reacted with sadness to the news.
“I’m very upset. Whatever you want to say, he is a public figure that the whole world respected and loved,” said Havana student Sariel Valdespino.
