Cuba mourns Fidel Castro's death at age 90

AFP Photo

Cuba mourned revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, who built a communist state on the doorstep of the United States and defied U.S. efforts to topple him for five decades, as the island prepared to say its last goodbyes to the towering giant of modern history with mass memorials and a four-day funeral procession.

After the stunned commotion surrounding the Nov. 26 announcement that Castro had died at age 90, Nov. 27 was set to be a day of calm preparations, with no official activities planned.

Castro, whose iron-fisted rule defied the U.S. for half a century, died late Nov. 25 after surviving 11 U.S. administrations and hundreds of assassination attempts.

Castro had been in poor health since an intestinal ailment nearly killed him in 2006. He formally ceded power to his younger brother, Raul, two years later.

Wearing a green military uniform, a somber Raul, 85, appeared on state television on the night of Nov. 25 to announce Fidel's death, 60 years to the day since the two brothers and dozens of supporters left Mexico on a boat to bring revolution to Cuba against dictator Fulgencio Batista. 

"At 10:29 at night, the chief commander of the Cuban revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz, died," he said, without giving a cause of death. 

"Ever onward, to victory," he said, using the slogan of the Cuban revolution. 

The polarizing leader, a titan of the 20th century who beat the odds to endure well into the 21st, was set to be cremated on Nov. 26, the first of nine days of national mourning.

A series of memorials will begin on Nov. 28, when Cubans are called to converge on Havana's iconic Revolution Square.

Castro's ashes will then go on a four-day procession through the country, before being buried in the...

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