Cubans to throng Revolution Square in mourning for Castro

Castro died on Friday, a decade after stepping down due to poor health and ceding power to his brother Raul Castro. Castro was cremated on Saturday and a nine-day period of mourning declared. His ashes will be carried in a cortege to a final resting place in Santiago de Cuba, the city in eastern Cuba where he launched the revolution. 

The government has invited people to Revolution Square for a two-day ceremony starting at 9 am. The urn holding the late leader’s ashes could be displayed. Workers rushed to install speakers and light standards in the plaza, where a giant photograph of Castro was draped over the national library, the same space where an enormous poster of Jesus Christ was hung for last year’s visit by Pope Francis. If previous public memorials are any guide, Raul Castro and other government, Communist Party and military leaders will lay flowers near the monument to Cuban national hero Jose Marti, followed by a long line of ordinary Cubans. 

The ceremony in the capital will end on Tuesday night when foreign leaders are expected to pay their respects to a man who dedicated his life to fighting capitalist and colonial oppression, aligned his country with the Soviet Union and outlasted nine US presidents who had sought to oust or undermine him.