NK leader visit Cuban Embassy to mourn Castro

Pedro Laborde boarded the first USA commercial flight to Havana on Monday on a trip to visit his mother and sister, and the idea that little will change immediately after Fidel Castro’s death.

The Cubans converged Monday on Havana’s Revolution Square to pay tribute to their beloved former leader. There and across Cuba people signed condolence books and an oath of loyalty to Castro’s May 1, 2000, proclamation defining the Cuban revolution as an unending battle for socialism and national autonomy. Some Cuban-Americans, however, embraced the idea of change following the death of the longtime leader. Castro, who outlasted a crippling USA trade embargo as well as dozens, possibly hundreds, of assassination plots, died 10 years after a life-threatening illness led him to turn over power to his brother, Raul Castro.

JetBlue’s first commercial flight to Havana’s Jose Marti International Airport, from New York City, arrived hours later. Carnival Corporation launched its first cruise to the island this year, and Starwood Hotels became the first US hotel brand to operate on the island.

The United States only restored full diplomatic contacts with Cuba in July a year ago.

Washington still bans Americans from visiting Cuba as tourists, but travel is permitted for 12 other categories, including cultural and educational exchange. “He did so many things for the Cuban people, it’s incredible, innumerable”.

Garcia said Cuba’s medical community “will continue to spread the solidarity he instilled in us to all corners of the planet, and with our white coats we will champion his legacy of peace and humanism”.

What happens after Trump’s inauguration in January is murkier.

“Our members are accustomed to serving new and emerging markets around the world and we remain committed to working with government officials in both the USA and Cuba to ensure an adequate framework is in place to help facilitate the movement of people and goods between our two nations”, she said.

On Monday, a delegation led by Choe Ryong-hae, a vice chairman of the ruling party’s central committee, left for Havana to attend Castro’s memorial services. Yet while the 1950s-vintage American cars on the road there seem enchanting to Americans, they are in use for want of something better to drive. “Obviously, I’ll be watching the news over the next couple of weeks”.

“Fidel always wanted to be with the people, and I remember he hugged me and kissed me as he did to hundreds of people that were there that day”, she added. Now that he has, President-elect Donald Trump should demand that Cuba become a more tolerant society with free and fair elections that most likely would knock Raul from power.

“We knew it was going to happen I am just sad my parents weren’t here”. He said he had fabulous excursions, eating home-cooked meals in private restaurants, visiting cemeteries and learning the history of the island.