People flooded the streets of Miami after Fidel Castro died

Since leading the country’s communist revolution, Fidel Castro relied on speeches and fiery quotes to inspire his troops and his countrymen.

Several blocks away, at the Bay of Pigs memorial, Antonio Hernandez, 76, rode his bicycle up in a light rain and stood at the eternal flame that honors the men who tried, and failed, to wrest Cuba from Castro’s grip in 1961. Expected to give a lengthy speech, his very short statement ended with the phrase: “‘Let us pay the debt to humanity, not the debt to the banks, ‘” he said. Throughout his tenure as Cuba’s leader, Castro remained committed to his communist values and his unwavering anti-capitalist stance, making him an iconic, global figure.

Born in 1926 in Cuba’s Oriente Province, Castro launched his first uprising against the Cuban government’s Fulgencio Batista regime in 1953.

October 14-26, 1962 – US blockade forces removal of Soviet nuclear missiles from Cuba.

Once in undisputed power, Castro, a Jesuit-schooled lawyer, aligned himself with the Soviet Union.

She was one of the first to take to Twitter about it.

The American government imposed a trade embargo, banning virtually all US exports to the island except for food and medicine, and it severed diplomatic ties on January 3, 1961.

“Cuba hadn’t counted for much in the scale of politics and history until Castro”, said Wayne Smith, the top USA diplomat in Cuba from 1979 to 1982.

The hagiographies on their way in the wake of his death will be similar to the ones that came when he stepped down from power.

Many political leaders in central and southern America praised Castro and his legacy. In February 2013, Raul announced that he would retire as president in 2018 and named newly minted Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel as his successor. Castro had marveled that he lived to turn 90, during a rare public appearance in April. “Soon I will be like everyone else”. As he renewed diplomatic ties, Obama acknowledged that decades of USA sanctions had failed to bring down the regime – a drive created to introduce democracy and foster western-style economic reforms – and it was time to try another way to help the Cuban people.

Information from The Associated Press and the U.S. Embassy was used in this report.