HAVANA — To waving flags and some shouts of “Long may he live!” Fidel Castro’s ashes began a four-day journey across the island Wednesday, retracing the path of his triumphant march into Havana nearly six decades ago.
A small, Cuban-flag covered cedar coffin containing the remains of the 90-year-old leader was taken out of Cuba’s Defense Ministry just after 7 a.m. and placed into a flower-bedecked trailer pulled by a green military jeep for the more than 500-mile procession to his final resting place in Santiago. The ashes will be interred Sunday, ending the nine-day mourning period for the man who ruled the country for nearly 50 years.
The route traces in reverse the victory tour Castro and his bearded rebels took after overthrowing the forces of strongman Fulgencio Batista in 1959.
Carpenter Rene Mena, 58, said his mother had taken him out of their home on the capital’s seafront Malecon boulevard as a baby to see Castro arrive that year. On Wednesday he donned a Cuban flag and a military cap outside the same house where he still lives, and saluted Castro’s caravan.
