'I'm here because of Fidel': Cubans gather to pay last respects to Castro
'I'm here because of Fidel': Cubans gather to pay last respects to Castro
From old comrades to musicians and doctors, thousands turned out to commemorate the revolutionary leader who transformed their country
Cubans wait to pay their last respects to Fidel Castro in Havana on Monday. Photograph: Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images
Jonathan Watts in Havana
Monday 28 November 2016 13.36 EST
Elderly revolutionaries joined young doctors, famous musicians, government workers and former guerrilla fighters in Havana’s Plaza de la Revolución as thousands lined up to pay their last respects to Fidel Castro.
Some carried flags. A few had flowers. All came with memories of the guerrilla leader who overthrew a dictatorship, resisted a US-led invasion, faced down a nuclear superpower and dominated the island’s political life for half a century.
Cubans mourn Fidel Castro in Havana
A few weeks earlier, Gómez – then an idealistic 18-year-old – had left his home in Havana to join the small rebel army in the Sierra Maestra mountains. He had been put in charge of a mortar unit for the attack on an army garrison at the San Ramón sugar mill. The battle lasted from midnight to 4am. Four guerrillas were killed, but they destroyed the mill and the barracks before returning to their base in the mountains.
“Fidel led by example. He was always in the frontline. He walked faster than everyone. He never stopped moving, but he was very approachable. You could always talk to him,” he recalled. “I want to say goodbye to this extraordinary man. He was a great guerrilla leader and tactician.”
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/28/fidel-castro-cubans-last-respects