By — Michael D. Regan Michael D. Regan Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/fidel-castro-funeral Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Fidel Castro laid to rest in private ceremony after nine days of mourning World Dec 4, 2016 12:27 PM EDT Fidel Castro was laid to rest on Sunday during a ceremony that capped nine days of mourning in Cuba. Castro, who ruled the island nation for almost a half-century, was carried in a coffin strewn with a Cuban flag and led by a military caravan that weaved through crowds stationed along the two-mile route in the city of Santiago. Some of the thousands who attended shouted out Castro’s name along the route. In the capital city of Havana, where Castro lived out his final years, a 21-gun salute could be heard echoing from military canons, according to Reuters. The procession ended at the Santa Ifigenia cemetery where Castro’s ashes were interred during a private 90-minute ceremony closed to the general public and international media, the Associated Press reported. A woman reacts after watching the cortege carrying the ashes of Cuba’s former President Fidel Castro drive past toward Santa Ifigenia cemetery in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, December 4, 2016. Photos By Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters Shortly before the ceremony, Cuban officials also cancelled plans to broadcast the ceremony on television. Castro stepped down from power at least eight years before his death after an intestinal illness. He died at the age of 90 on Nov. 25, though the cause of his death was not released. Raul Castro said Saturday his brother’s name and image would not be memorialized in public. “The leader of the revolution rejected any manifestation of a cult of personality and was consistent in that through the last hours of his life, insisting that, once dead, his name and likeness would never be used on institutions, streets, parks or other public sites, and that busts, statutes or other forms of tribute would never be erected,” he said. See below for more photos of the procession. Soldiers stand in the back of a truck while driving past a billboard with a photograph of Cuba’s former President Fidel Castro before Castro’s ashes are to drive toward Santa Ifigenia cemetery in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, December 4, 2016. Photo By Ivan Alvarado/Reuters A soldier stands as he guards the cortege carrying Cuba’s former President Fidel Castro’s ashes to a cemetery in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba December 4, 2016. Photo By Carlos Barria/Reuters People watch the cortege carrying the ashes of Cuba’s former President Fidel Castro drive toward Santa Ifigenia cemetery in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, December 4, 2016. Photo By Ivan Alvarado/Reuters Soldiers stand guard next to a boulder where the ashes of Cuba’s former President Fidel Castro Photo By Marcelino Vazquez via REUTERS Cuba’s President Raul Castro (C) places the box containing the ashes of Cuba’s former President Fidel Castro into a boulder at the Santa Ifigenia Cemetery, in Santiago de Cuba, December 4, 2016. Photo By Marcelino Vazquez via Reuters By — Michael D. Regan Michael D. Regan Michael D. Regan is a senior digital editor for PBS NewsHour. @mdregan
Fidel Castro was laid to rest on Sunday during a ceremony that capped nine days of mourning in Cuba. Castro, who ruled the island nation for almost a half-century, was carried in a coffin strewn with a Cuban flag and led by a military caravan that weaved through crowds stationed along the two-mile route in the city of Santiago. Some of the thousands who attended shouted out Castro’s name along the route. In the capital city of Havana, where Castro lived out his final years, a 21-gun salute could be heard echoing from military canons, according to Reuters. The procession ended at the Santa Ifigenia cemetery where Castro’s ashes were interred during a private 90-minute ceremony closed to the general public and international media, the Associated Press reported. A woman reacts after watching the cortege carrying the ashes of Cuba’s former President Fidel Castro drive past toward Santa Ifigenia cemetery in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, December 4, 2016. Photos By Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters Shortly before the ceremony, Cuban officials also cancelled plans to broadcast the ceremony on television. Castro stepped down from power at least eight years before his death after an intestinal illness. He died at the age of 90 on Nov. 25, though the cause of his death was not released. Raul Castro said Saturday his brother’s name and image would not be memorialized in public. “The leader of the revolution rejected any manifestation of a cult of personality and was consistent in that through the last hours of his life, insisting that, once dead, his name and likeness would never be used on institutions, streets, parks or other public sites, and that busts, statutes or other forms of tribute would never be erected,” he said. See below for more photos of the procession. Soldiers stand in the back of a truck while driving past a billboard with a photograph of Cuba’s former President Fidel Castro before Castro’s ashes are to drive toward Santa Ifigenia cemetery in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, December 4, 2016. Photo By Ivan Alvarado/Reuters A soldier stands as he guards the cortege carrying Cuba’s former President Fidel Castro’s ashes to a cemetery in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba December 4, 2016. Photo By Carlos Barria/Reuters People watch the cortege carrying the ashes of Cuba’s former President Fidel Castro drive toward Santa Ifigenia cemetery in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, December 4, 2016. Photo By Ivan Alvarado/Reuters Soldiers stand guard next to a boulder where the ashes of Cuba’s former President Fidel Castro Photo By Marcelino Vazquez via REUTERS Cuba’s President Raul Castro (C) places the box containing the ashes of Cuba’s former President Fidel Castro into a boulder at the Santa Ifigenia Cemetery, in Santiago de Cuba, December 4, 2016. Photo By Marcelino Vazquez via Reuters