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Fidel Castro's ashes interred in Santiago de Cuba

Sunday, 04 December 2016 6:35 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 04 December 2016 7:20 PM ]

Cuba's President Raul Castro (C) places the box containing the ashes of Cuba’s former President Fidel Castro into a boulder at the Santa Ifigenia Cemetery, in Santiago de Cuba, on December 4, 2016. (Photo by Reuters)

The ashes of Cuba’s iconic revolutionary leader, Fidel Castro, have been interred at a cemetery in the southeastern city of Santiago de Cuba after tearful Cubans bid farewell to him in great numbers.

An urn containing Castro's ashes was carried by soldiers to Santa Ifigenia Cemetery in Santiago, 800 km southeast of the capital, Havana, on Sunday with the military unleashing a 21-gun salute for their deceased leader.

Castro's cremated remains were placed near the mausoleum of Cuba’s 19th century independence hero, Jose Marti.

Members of Castro's family and top government officials close to the former leader attended the private ceremony in Santiago de Cuba, the city where he started the Cuban revolution in 1953.

Hundreds of thousands of Cubans mourning, cheering or chanting "I am Fidel!" lined the streets and waved flags.

The Cuban leader’s burial ended nine days of official mourning in the country.

Castro, who ruled Cuba for nearly half a century, died on November 25 at the age of 90, a decade after ceding power to his brother Raul in 2006.

Cuba’s President Raul Castro, Fidel’s brother and successor, said on Saturday evening that "millions" had come out to pay tribute.

He added that Fidel’s Castro's image will not be immortalized with statues nor will public places be named after him in order to keep with his wishes.

For many in Latin America and the Caribbean, Castro was a symbol of resistance against imperialism for ousting a US-backed dictator in 1959. He survived hundreds of attempts on his life, many of them believed to have been orchestrated by the US.

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