Students light candles in honor of Cuban historic revolutionary leader Fidel Castro a day after his death, at the Havana University in Havana on November 26, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / Yamil LAGE
Cuba mourned its revolutionary leader Fidel Castro on Sunday, as the communist island prepared to bid farewell to the towering giant of its modern history with memorials and a four-day funeral procession.
After the stunned commotion triggered by Saturday鈥檚 announcement that Castro, 90, had died, Sunday was set to be a day of preparations ahead of a flurry of events to mark his passing.
Castro, a titan of the 20th century who beat the odds to endure into the 21st, died late Friday after surviving 11 US administrations and hundreds of assassination attempts. No cause of death was given.
President Raul Castro said that his older brother鈥檚 remains would be cremated Saturday, the first of nine days of national mourning. There was no official confirmation on whether this had yet happened.
A series of memorials will begin Monday, when Cubans are called to converge on Havana鈥檚 iconic Revolution Square.
Castro鈥檚 ashes will then go on a four-day island-wide procession before being buried in the southeastern city of Santiago on December 4.
Santiago, Cuba鈥檚 second city, was the scene of Castro鈥檚 ill-fated first attempt at revolution in 1953 鈥� six years before he succeeded in ousting US-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista.
Adored by supporters as a savior and reviled by enemies as a tyrant, Castro ruled Cuba from 1959 until he handed power to his brother Raul in 2006 amid a health crisis.
Even in retirement Castro wielded influence behind the scenes, and regularly penned diatribes against American 鈥渋mperialism鈥� in the state press.
Dancing in Miami
The news of Castro鈥檚 death drew strong 鈥� and polarized 鈥� reactions across the world.
In Miami, just 370 kilometers (230 miles) away, crowds of Cuban-Americans danced in the streets for a second night, celebrating Castro鈥檚 death.
Among the cacophony of car horns, drums, loud music and singing in the city鈥檚 Little Havana neighborhood, a chant rang out: 鈥淔idel, you tyrant, take your brother too!鈥�
Some two million Cubans live in the United States, nearly 70 percent of them in Florida. Of those, the vast majority live in Miami.
Cuban-American politicians excoriated Castro, with Florida Senator Marco Rubio calling him an聽鈥渆vil, murderous dictator who inflicted misery and suffering on his own people.鈥�
However Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed Castro as 鈥渢he symbol of an era,鈥� and China鈥檚 Xi Jinping said 鈥淐omrade Castro will live forever.鈥�
There were sharply different US reactions from outgoing President Barack Obama and President-elect Donald Trump.
Obama, who embarked on a historic rapprochement with Cuba in 2014, said the US extended a 鈥渉and of friendship鈥� to the Cuban people.
But Trump dismissed Castro as 鈥渁 brutal dictator.鈥�
The future of the US-Cuban thaw is uncertain under Trump, who has threatened to reverse course if Havana does not allow greater human rights.
Mourning in Havana
The bustling streets of Havana emptied and parties ground to a halt as Castro鈥檚 admirers sank into grief.
The city was oddly silent late Saturday, as night clubs closed and liquor sales were limited, part of the official days of mourning.
鈥淲hat can I say? Fidel Castro was larger than life,鈥� said a tearful Aurora Mendez, 82.
She recalled a life in poverty before Castro鈥檚 revolution in 1959.
鈥淔idel was always first in everything, fighting for the downtrodden and the poor,鈥� she said.
Indiana Valdes and her husband Maykel Duquesne, who work at a state-run bank, worried about life after Fidel.
鈥淔idel was the island鈥檚 protector, he was everywhere,鈥� said Valdes, 43.
Choking back tears, Valdes recalled a lifetime under El Comandante. Will socialism survive his death? She looked at her husband and shrugged. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know,鈥� she said.
Cab driver Armando Lobaina, 50, admits that he cried on hearing the news. 鈥淲ithout Fidel I feel empty,鈥� he said.
Lobaina hoped that Raul Castro and whoever succeeds him prevents the collapse of Cuba鈥檚 socialist system and the 鈥済ood things鈥� that it provides, such as free health and education.
But he still worries. 鈥淭hings can鈥檛 change too abruptly because there are people who don鈥檛 like change,鈥� he said, adding that it is now all down to the top Communist Party leaders.
Underdog and survivor
Fidel Castro, who came to power as a bearded, cigar-chomping 32-year-old, adopted the slogan 鈥渟ocialism or death鈥� and kept his faith to the end.
Castro survived more than 600 assassination attempts, according to aides, as well as the failed 1961 US-backed Bay of Pigs invasion.
His outrage over that botched plot contributed to the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, when the Soviet Union accepted his request to send ballistic missiles to Cuba.
The US discovery of the missiles pushed the world to the brink of nuclear war.
The Soviet Union bankrolled Castro鈥檚 regime until 1989, when the Eastern Bloc鈥檚 collapse sent Cuba鈥檚 economy into free-fall.
But Fidel managed to hang on.
He ceded power to his brother Raul in July 2006 to recover from intestinal surgery.
The father of at least eight children, Fidel Castro was last seen in public on his 90th birthday on August 13.