Yo Soy Fidel

Cuba

The casket carrying Fidel Castro's ashes moving along the way in Santa Clara, Cuba 1 December 2016. Many Cubans, standing everywhere, pay homage to their "Comandante", waving the national flags. The former President of Cuba died of natural causes the 25th of November 2016. After two days of commemoration in Havana the funeral convoy traveled along a 900 km route to Santiago de Cuba, tracing in reverse the route of the "Freedom Caravan" of January 1959 in which Castro and his rebels took power, after the winning of the Revolution. His ashes were entombed in Santiago de Cuba on 4 December 2016, and hundreds of thousands of Cubans commemorated the event. The picture is not staged, I was on the roof top of an old building when the convoy passed.

A Cuban woman is carrying a portrait of Fidel Castro as a portrait of a family member. She is in the long queue to pay homage to the "Lider Maximo", Fidel Castro, on the Plaza de la Revolucion in Havana, Cuba, the 28th of November 2016. The former President of Cuba died of natural causes the 25th of November 2016. He had held on to power for almost 50 years, until 2008 when he stepped down due to a disease. Many Cubans feel a personal attachment with their leader, who is considered as a father of the nation by many. The picture is not staged.

An aquarium in a "casa particular" a kind of local B&B in Santa Clara. Santa Clara, Cuba. 30 November 2016. The aquarium was in the accomodation where I spent the night when I was following the funeral caravan

A mother and his young daughter with Cuba's flags are waiting for the passage of funeral caravan carrying the ashes of Fidel Castro to the final destination: the cemetery of Santa Ifigenia in Santiago the Cuba, Cuba, 4 December 2016. The picture is not staged

A Cuban soldier controls the people with a lot of Cuban flags at the passage of the funeral cortege carrying the ashes of the "Lider Maximo", Fidel Castro, on the Malecon in Havana, Cuba, the 30 November 2016. The former President of Cuba died of natural causes the 25th of November 2016. He had held on to power for almost 50 years, until 2008 when he stepped down due to a disease. Many Cubans feel a personal attachment with their leader, who is considered as a father of the nation by many. The picture is not staged.

A Cuban woman, visibly moved, is crying at the passage of the funeral cortege carrying the ashes of the "Lider Maximo", Fidel Castro, on the Malecon in Havana, Cuba, the 30 November 2016. The former President of Cuba died of natural causes the 25th of November 2016. He had held on to power for almost 50 years, until 2008 when he stepped down due to a disease. Many Cubans feel a personal attachment with their leader, who is considered as a father of the nation by many. During the funeral a lot of people recorded the event with their mobile phones. Due to the wider spread of this technology, which arrived in Cuba only in the last years, many people were able to film this historical event. The picture is not staged.

A makeshift memorial altar in the bus station of Camaguey. A table with some flowers under two images of Fidel Castro. Camaguey, Cuba. 1 Dicember 2016 I took this picture when I arrived in Camaguey with the bus, following the funeral caravan.

Two young Cuban children waiting for the passage of funeral caravan carrying the ashes of Fidel Castro to the final destination: the cemetery of Santa Ifigenia in Santiago the Cuba, Cuba, 4 December 2016. The girl has the Revolutionary slogan "Yo soy Fidel" (I'm Fidel) painted on the cheek and on the t-shirt, while his younger brother is dressed in a Cuban army uniform with a typical armband of the "26th of July Movement" , the day when Moncada was conquered. The "26th of July Movement" was a vanguard revolutionary organization led by Fidel Castro that in 1959 overthrew the Fulgencio Batista dictatorship in Cuba. The picture is not staged

Millions of people in Plaza de la Revolucion in Havana where took place the first public homage to the "Comandante" Fidel Castro, deceased for natural causes the 25th November 2016. The ceremony was attended by many world leaders, which are on the stage in front of the depicted building with the famous image of Che Guevara. Havana, 29 November2016. The picture is not staged

The interior of a house in Santiago De Cuba. In the empty room on the television there are only documentaries about Fidel Castro. Santiago De Cuba, Cuba. 4 December 2016. The picture is not staged. I was in Santiago for the official funeral Ceremony when I saw this situation in a house and I took the picture.

The Cuban President Raul Castro, surrounded by many world leaders, is paying his last respect to his brother Fidel Castro, deceased the 25th of November 2016. The national mourning lasted 9 days during which a funeral cortege accompanied the ashes of the "Comandante" to their final destination in Santiago De Cuba. The funeral began with a memorial ceremony in Plaza de la Revolucion in Havana, where many presidents took part to pay their last homage to the "Lider Maximo". Raul Castro ended his speech repeating the famous Revolutionary slogan "Hasta la victoria siempre". Havana, Cuba. 29 November 2016. The picture is not staged.

Some Cuban flags hanging outside an establishment on the road from Santa Clara to Camaguey. The national flag was hung from every building, home and workplace throughout Cuba. Camaguey, Cuba. 1 December 2016. I shot the picture from a bus while I was following the funeral caravan

the stadium guardian controls all night long since some people stayed all night long carrying Cuban flags, images of the "Comandante" and lighting candles as a farewell offers in Ignacio Agramonte Revolution square where the ashes of Fidel Castro were resting for the night, before restarting their journey to Santiago De Cuba. Camaguey, Cuba, 1 December 2016. Many people gathered The picture is not staged

Cuban Soldiers on a bench in the main park in the city center of Santa Clara. It's 4 o'clock in the morning and the Soldiers are waiting to take part at the funeral ceremony. Their duty is the security check. There was a lot of military control all along the funeral route for the fear of an attack. Santa Clara, Cuba. 1 December 2016. The picture is not staged

Two women and a child in a private mini van somewhere in the street from Camaguey to Holguin. The funeral caravan is arriving in Holguin where there will be the local celebration. Holguin, Cuba. 2 December 2016. I was on the bus to Holguin when I took the picture

Many Cubans shouting slogans for Fidel Castro and singing National songs to commemorate the "Lider Maximo" during the funeral wake in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, 3 December 2016. Many people gathered in Plaza de la Revolution square carrying Cuban flags, images of the "Comandante" and lighting candles as a farewell offers, waiting for the official speech of Raul Castro, the official President of Cuba. The picture is not staged

Many Cubans shouting slogans for Fidel Castro and singing National songs to commemorate the "Lider Maximo" during the funeral wake in Camaguey, Cuba, 1 December 2016. Many people gathered in Ignacio Agramonte Revolution square where the ashes of Fidel Castro were resting for the night, before restarting their journey to Santiago De Cuba. Many stayed all night long carrying Cuban flags, images of the "Comandante" and lighting candles as a farewell offers. The picture is not staged

Hundreds of thousand of people in Plaza de la Revolucion in Santiago De Cuba where took place the last stop of the funeral ceremony, before that the ashes of Fidel Castro were entombed in the cemetery of Santa Ifigenia. The crowd carrying Cuban flags and images of the "Lider Maximo", are standing in front of the stage where the President Raul Castro is paying his last homage to the his brother. Santiago de Cuba, 3 December 2016. The picture is not staged

A view of Plaza de la Revolucion in Santiago De Cuba the day before the official funeral Ceremony. The square is being prepared to accommodate the funeral procession and hundreds of thousands of people that will come. An image of Fidel Castro winning the Revolution welcomes those arriving in Santiago.Santiago De Cuba, Cuba, 2 December 2016. I was there to wait for the arrival of the funeral caravan.

The tomb of Fidel Castro in the military cemetery of Santa Ifigenia in Santiago De Cuba. Fidel Castro's ashes, deceased at the age of 90, were interred next to the tombs of the 19th Century Cuban independence hero, Jose Marti, and the martyrs of the 26th of July 1953, with a private ceremony, which took place in Santiago De Cuba, Cuba the 4th of December 2016. Santiago is known as the birthplace of the Cuban Revolution. The picture is not staged

The 25th of November 2016 died, at the age of 90, the Cuban Revolution’s leader Fidel Castro and with him an era came to an end. He had both admirers and detractors in Cuba and around the world. Some saw him as a ruthless despot who trampled rights and freedoms; many others hailed him, as the crowd did during the funeral, as a revolutionary hero. No doubt that he has been an icon that has left a deep mark in history and an important legacy.
Survived to 11 U.S. President and to more than 600 assassination attempts, as the legend says, Fidel Castro had held on to power longer than any other living national leader except Queen Elizabeth II. At least 3 generations of Cubans have lived under his government. He was perhaps the most important leader to emerge from Latin America since the wars of independence in the early 19th century and became a towering international figure whose importance in the 20th century far exceeded what might have been expected from the head of state of a Caribbean island nation of 11 million people.
His revolution transformed Cuban society and had a longer-lasting impact throughout the region than that of any other 20th-century Latin American insurrection. His legacy in Cuba has been a mixed record of successes and failures of social progress which anyway improved considerably the average conditions of the population, especially in the field of education and health care, that existed in the country under the former government of Batista.
For better or for worse, Fidel occupied an important place in the lives of Cubans. “The vast majority of Cubans feel a personal connection with Fidel,” said political scientist Rafael Hernandez, director of the Cuban magazine Temas. That applies to “both those who support him, wholly or with reservations, and those who see him as the cause of all Cuba’s ills.”.
With his death, many questions hang over the future of Cuba. Even if President Raul Castro, who has been leading the country since 2008 when Fidel stepped down, has been a reformist, pushing pragmatically for slow but steady change, the people are looking for a new future. If on one hand, Cubans feel devotion and gratitude towards their Lider Maximo, who has been a true father of his country, and now they are experiencing a sense of emptiness and uncertainty; on the other hand, they see in the death of Fidel an opportunity to take a step towards a modern society that can offer more individual possibilities. Especially the young generation are eager for a change, dreaming all the glittering things that capitalism can offer, without even knowing the backstory.
Nobody should assume, anyway, that without Fidel the revolutionary ideas, which are so deeply entrenched into the fabric of society, will easily succumb to capitalism’s supposed “jewels”. The Country will have to brace for a new challenge, finding a balance between modernity and Fidel’s legacy, if it wants to keep true to its socialist ideals, despite the economic hardships that it still has to confront.