Page 2 - ATD29NOV2016

A2 UP FRONT
Tuesday 29 November 2016
Cubans bid Fidel Castro farewell, pledge loyalty to system North Korea calls

M. WEISSENSTEIN There and across the coun- Many mourners came on to the memorial had two 3-day mourning
P. ORSI try, people signed con- their own, but thousands of goals: “We came to say period for Castro
Associated Press dolence books and an others were sent in groups goodbye to our com- TOKYO (AP) — North Ko-
HAVANA (AP) — Hundreds oath of loyalty to Castro’s by the communist govern- mander, to reaffirm our rea is observing a three-
of thousands of Cubans sweeping May 1, 2000, ment, which still employs support of the revolution,” day period of mourning for
she said. Fidel Castro, seen by the
After 10 years of leadership North as a rare comrade-
by Raul Castro, a relatively in-arms against the com-
camera-shy and low-key mon enemy of the United
successor, Cuba has found States.
itself riveted once again The North has ordered flags
by the words and images outside official buildings be
of the leader who domi- flown at half-staff to honor
nated the lives of gen- Castro, the country’s state
erations. Since his death media reported Monday.
on Friday night, state-run The iconic Cuban leader
newspapers, television and died Friday at age 90.
radio have run wall-to-wall Reports from Pyongyang
tributes to Fidel Castro, said North Korean leader
broadcasting non-stop Kim Jong Un sent a wreath
footage of his speeches, to the Cuban Embassy and
interviews and foreign trips, that a delegation of senior
interspersed with adulatory North Korean officials has
remembrances by promi- left for Havana to attend
nent Cubans. Castro’s memorial services.
Inside the memorial, thou- According to a Japanese
sands walked through agency that monitors

People wait in line to pay their final respects to the late Fidel Castro, at Revolution Plaza, the site of three rooms with near- North Korean media, Cas-
two days of tributes to the legendary leader, in Havana, Cuba, Monday, Nov. 28, 2016. Thousands identical displays featur- tro is the first foreign politi-
of Cubans began lining up early carrying portraits of Castro, flowers and Cuban flags for the start ing the 1962 Alberto Korda cal figure to be honored in
of week-long services bidding farewell to the man who ruled the country for nearly half a century. photograph of the young such a manner since Pales-
(AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa) Castro in the Sierra Mae- tinian leader Yasser Arafat,
stra mountains, bouquets who died in 2004.
bade farewell to Fidel Cas- proclamation of the Cu- about 80 percent of the of white flowers and an Besides flying flags at half-
tro on Monday, pledging ban revolution as an un- working people in Cuba array of Castro’s medals staff, it was not immediate-
allegiance to his socialist ending battle for socialism, despite the growth of the against a black backdrop, ly clear what the mourn-
ideology and paying trib- nationalism and an outsize private sector under Cas- framed by honor guards ing period, which ends on
ute before images of the role for the island on the tro’s successor, his brother of uniformed soldiers and Wednesday, would entail.
leader as a young guerrilla world stage. Raul. children in school uniforms. Shortly after receiving news
gazing out over the coun- Tribute sites were set up in One of the first in line at the The ashes of the 90-year- of Castro’s death, Kim
try he would come to rule hundreds of places across Plaza of the Revolution was old former president did Yong Nam, head of the
for nearly half a century. the country as the gov- Tania Jimenez, 53, a math- not appear to be on dis- North’s parliament, and
Lines stretched for hours ernment urged Cubans ematician who arrived at 4 play. Premier Pak Pong Ju sent a
outside the Plaza of the to reaffirm their belief in a a.m. carrying a rose. Signs read: “The Cuban message of condolence to
Revolution, the massive socialist, single-party sys- “Fidel is everything to us, Communist Party is the Castro’s brother Raul, who
plaza where Castro deliv- tem that in recent years the soul of this country who only legitimate heir of the assumed power after Fidel
ered fiery speeches to hun- has struggled to maintain gave everything, all his legacy and authority of became too weak to con-
dreds of thousands of sup- the fervor that was wide- life,” Jimenez said, in tears. the commander in chief tinue as leader in 2008.
porters in the years after he spread at the triumph of Sandra Aguilar, a 48-year- of the Cuban Revolution, In it, they said that although
seized power. the 1959 revolution. old doctor, said her visit comrade Fidel Castro.”q Fidel Castro has died, “the
feats he performed for the
First commercial US-Havana flight lands as Cuba mourns Cuban revolution and the
fraternal relations of friend-
ship between the two
A. GARCIA the inaugural voyage. tioned ban on live music ments since Presidents countries would remain
C. ARMARIO “It was very emotional for has hushed the capital’s Raul Castro and Barack forever.” But Fidel Castro’s
HAVANA (AP) — Pas- me,” said Jonathan Gon- usually festive nightlife. Obama announced they passing could well be the
sengers erupted into ap- zalez, 31, a Cuban-Amer- “I’m intrigued to see how would restore diplomatic end of an era for North Ko-
plause as the first commer- ican born in Miami who the city is after the death relations nearly two years rea-Cuba relations.
cial flight from the United said it was his third time vis- of Fidel Castro,” ago. Because of their com-
States to Havana in more iting the island. said Tamara Cara, 45, an President-elect Donald mon enmity toward the
than 50 years landed in Passengers wearing straw education professional Trump has denounced United States and similar
Cuba, arriving as the island hats provided by Ameri- from Puerto Rico on the Obama’s moves to open authoritarian power struc-
begins week-long memori- can Airlines with the word flight. For years U.S. travel- relations with the island. tures, Cuba and North Ko-
al services for revolutionary “Cuba” on the back were ers to the island have had Adviser Kellyanne Conway rea had maintained very
leader Fidel Castro. greeted with welcome to go through burden- told ABC’s “This Week” close diplomatic ties
Cubans saluted the signs in various languages some charter flights with Sunday that nothing has throughout the years. The
packed American Airlines — but no music. four-hour check ins. been decided on Cuba, two countries established
flight by spraying water The visitors are arriving at The U.S. and Cuba signed but said the U.S. is allowing ties in 1960 and Castro vis-
from firetrucks above the the same time that tens a deal in February to re- commercial aircraft to do ited the North in 1986 to
plane as it taxied along the of thousands begin pay- store commercial air traf- business with a repressive meet with Kim Il Sung, the
runway at Jose Marti Inter- ing homage to Castro in fic, marking one of the Cuban government and country’s founder and Kim
national Airport in honor of Havana and a state-sanc- most important develop- military.q Jong Un’s grandfather.q