21 gun salute for ex-Cuban leader Fidel Castro

(28 Nov 2016) Simultaneous 21-gun salutes sounded in Havana on Monday and in the eastern city of Santiago, in memory of the revolutionary leader Fidel Castro. Soldiers participated in the event, saying they will defend the ideas of their "Commander" and the Cuban revolution "at any cost." Elsewhere in Havana, thousands of Cubans were lining up near Revolution Plaza, carrying portraits of Fidel Castro, flowers and Cuban flags for the start of week-long services bidding farewell to the man who ruled the country for nearly half a century. Virtually all schools and government offices were closing during the homage to Castro, which will stretch for 13 hours on Monday and take place again on Tuesday, ending in a rally echoing those that Castro addressed at the plaza for most of his time in power. On Wednesday, Castro's ashes will begin a three-day procession east across Cuba, retracing the march of his bearded rebel army from the Sierra Maestra mountains to the capital. Castro's ashes will be interred on Sunday in Santa Ifigenia cemetery in Santiago, Cuba's second-largest city. Since his death on Friday night, state-run newspapers, television and radio have been running wall-to-wall tributes to Fidel, broadcasting non-stop footage of his speeches, interviews and foreign trips, interspersed with adulatory remembrances by prominent Cubans. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...