Cuba mourns the loss of former leader Fidel Castro

Students pay tribute to Cuban historic revolutionary leader Fidel Castro a day after his death, at the Havana University in Havana on November 26, 2016.

Since the announcement, alcohol sales have been suspended, flags flown at half-staff and shows and concerts have been cancelled.

Al Jazeera reported, “The US government spent more than $1 billion trying to kill, undermine or otherwise force Castro from power, but he endured unscathed before old age and disease finally took him”. No cause of death was given.

Castro’s remains will make a cross-country tour from Havana to Santiago, retracing in reverse the route Castro took when the revolution triumphed in 1959.

“More than 50 of the remaining prisoners were released after Fidel Castro handed over power to his brother, most on the condition that they accept exile to Spain”, it said.

The news drew strong – and polarised – reactions across the world.

Cubans braced for a series of events to commemorate the life of the man who ruled the communist island for decades, played a major role in the Cold War and was loved or loathed by many.

Earlier on, in the primaries, he said he thought restoring diplomatic ties with Cuba was fine, but that Obama ought to have cut a better deal.

“With Fidel gone, the fear the Cuban people have lived under for his entire tenure will be gone”, said Vietnam veteran Sergeant Bob Brennen, whose flat-brim hat and black satin bomber jacket were both emblazoned with the words “Vietnam Veteran”.

Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry also defended Corbyn’s comments, admitting “it’s quite difficult” to get past allegations of brutality made against Fidel Castro.

He added: “It was a beacon of hope for many people but, yes of course there were flaws, and you can not but criticise those – but again in the face of the blockades and the opposition from the USA the achievements of the Cuban revolution have to be admired particularly with regard to education, health and redistribution of wealth”.

Responding to criticism from some politicians and human rights activists, the President’s spokesman said his statement had clearly referred to the price paid for social and economic development in terms of civil society and the criticisms it brought. “It seems Cubans feel amusing about enjoying themselves so soon after Fidel died”, said Raul Tamayo, a doorman at La Roca, a popular restaurant in Havana’s central Vedado district.

“What can I say?”

Fidel Castro in February 2012.

Speaking on RTÉ’s The Week in Politics on Sunday, Mr Flanagan said he respected the right, in the first instance, and the view of President Higgins.

“Fidel’s ideas are still valid”, said Edgardo Casals, a 32-year-old sculptor.

One Cuban exile auto dealer, however, sought to turn the revolutionary socialist’s death into a quintessential capitalist deal by offering $15,000 discounts on some models.

He endured more than 600 assassination attempts, according to aides, as well as the disastrous US-backed Bay of Pigs invasion attempt in 1961. “That will affect everyone in Cuba, and hit the economy”, said Martinez, who earns $100-$120 a week driving for foreigners. Even as Castro launched drives that were unprecedented in Latin America to rapidly improve literacy and to train thousands of doctors, his rule distinguished itself as a repressive system that punished virtually all forms of opposition, they say.

Still, Fidel managed to hang on. He formally ceded power to his younger brother, Raul, in 2008 after ruling for almost half a century.