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Former Cuban Leader Fidel Castro Dies at 90. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired November 26, 2016 - 01:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[01:00:00]

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We asked the Garridos to sit down for a conversation about Fidel Castro and Cuba to capture how Cuban American families have evolved more than 50 years after Castro rose to power.

When Jorge Garrido came to the United States in 1960 at age 19, he had hopes back then of crushing Fidel Castro's dictatorship.

JORGE GARRIDO, CUBAN AMERICAN: I was adamant at that time. Now, you know, I guess everybody's tired.

LAVANDERA: Everybody's tired?

JORGE GARRIDO: Everyone is tired because nothing has been done. Or we lost a lot of opportunities.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Jorge and his wife, Lourdes, have now lived in the United States longer than they ever lived in Cuba. Fidel Castro is a figure that forever changed their lives.

LOURDES GARRIDO, CUBAN AMERICAN: What can I tell you about Fidel?

I mean, like you said, Fidel is Fidel. He's a non-issue at this point. And I don't think Cuba will ever change. When Fidel goes, the regimen will be the same with the (INAUDIBLE) people, younger people. Maybe I'm wrong. I wish I am.

LAVANDERA: Are you as angry today toward him that you were 40, 50 years ago?

LOURDES GARRIDO: I mean, you know, life makes you change, like the way you think. When I came here, I was too young.

But he destroyed our lives, you know?

Most of my life has been here, not in my country. So, in that sense, it has affected me a lot because I missed all the good things about Cuba.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): But the American-born children of Cuban exiles like Alexa and Maite view Cuba differently.

MAITE GARRIDO, CUBAN AMERICAN: I feel Cuban but it's an abstract for me. It's a culture, it's a tradition, it's family. It's what you do. For them, it's more raw. For me, it's -- I don't like Castro. I would love to see a democracy there and I think most Americans probably would. But what they feel is obviously going to be much greater.

LOURDES GARRIDO: Yes, because we had to live through the Bay of Pigs invasion, where we both lost -- yes, a lot of friends, you know, close friends. I remember clearly the October crisis of the missiles.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): The talk turned toward what could have been done differently in the last 50 years to bring political change to Cuba. It's not something the younger generation thinks of as much. Time has softened Cuban American support of the trade embargo but Jorge and Lourdes are still adamant that Castro's regime must go.

JORGE GARRIDO: The dinosaurs, if you want to call it, the cronies that are in power right now, they don't want to let go. And they should have let go a long time ago if they were really true patriots. Yes, I'm very angry at that because we had a beautiful country.

LAVANDERA: Did you guys think that you would be at this age and not going back to Cuba?

JORGE GARRIDO: I did not.

LOURDES GARRIDO: I thought we were going sooner. But apparently -- we're stuck here.

(LAUGHTER)

LAVANDERA: I understood what you meant. It's not a bad place to be stuck.

LOURDES GARRIDO: Right. You're right.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): The day may soon come where the Garridos all visit Cuba together. At least that remains the hope -- Ed Lavandera, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Let's take a moment here to recap the breaking news we are following, three minutes after the top of the hour, 1:00 am on the U.S. East Coast and Fidel Castro, the former leader of Cuba, dead at the age of 90 years old.

He has been out of the public eye for some time. But there have been many rumors about his death. Now CNN confirming that indeed Fidel Castro has died in Cuba at the age of 90.

Let's bring in our global affairs correspondent, Elise Labott, who is also following the breaking news with us.

Elise, first of all, let's talk about the implications of this very important figure who has died at 90 years old.

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, George, obviously Fidel Castro loomed so large over the Cuban consciousness and certainly over the relationship between the U.S. and Cuba.

But the reopening of diplomatic ties that the U.S., President Obama forged with Cuba was with Raul Castro and certainly that is who the government has been working with.

So obviously I think that this is a symbolic day both for the Cuban people and for Cuban Americans in the United States. But I don't think it really changes anything in terms of -- I don't think the U.S. expects any floodgates necessarily to open in terms of democratic openings, political openings, everything like that.

The Raul Castro government has been working and running the government for several years. So I think the question is right now with the historic U.S. election, is what is going to happen to this nascent diplomatic rapprochement between the U.S. and Cuba under President- Elect --

[01:05:00]

LABOTT: -- Trump. You know, President-Elect Trump has said that he's given some mixed messages earlier on. He said that he could walk back some of the openings that President Obama gave to Cuba, such as the trade reopening, such as the travel.

More recently he has said that he wants a better deal for the Cuban people, that he wants to make sure that some of these openings and some of this restoring of ties is actually trickling down to the people.

There have been already you know, reopening of trade, reopening of business. Businesses have been investing millions of dollars, U.S. businesses in Cuba right now. I think it would be a little bit hard to undo some of that; certainly there are some executive orders that President-Elect Trump could undo.

But this opening although it is not -- certainly President Obama has tried to make it irreversible -- it's not necessarily irreversible but the train has certainly left the station.

And the question is will President-Elect Trump allow this opening to continue and will he feel, as President Obama did, that openings of commercial ties and economic ties and cultural ties will help open up the democratic space in Cuba -- George.

CYRIL VANIER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Elise Labott in Washington, thank you very much.

I'd like to go straight back to Havana now. Of course, we'll get back to Elise shortly. We'll be getting reaction from around the world here on CNN. But right now the most important reaction is on the streets of Havana with our correspondent, Patrick Oppmann, who joins us from the Cuban capital.

Patrick, thanks for being with us and I know you jumped into the studio when you heard the news. I want to get back to something that you were saying earlier, that as you were on your way to the studio you, were speaking to Cubans and most -- and more often than not, you were the one breaking that news to them, giving them the information what you had heard from Raul Castro.

What I'd like to hear from you right now, what is it like to tell a Cuban, who has only ever known Fidel Castro, that the man has passed away?

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, one person that I called for reaction -- I don't want to use her name -- but I have known her for many years and she hates Fidel Castro. And she began to cry, really under the weight of history, perhaps from relief, perhaps from -- this is somebody that all Cubans feel they know.

My office staff is somewhat stunned as I called them. People were not watching the news this late at night, almost 11 o'clock when the news broke here in Havana. People were going to bed or doing other things and they were not watching this broadcast when, at the very end of a celebration of one of the important events that led to the Cuban revolution, that Raul Castro announced that his brother, Fidel Castro, had passed away.

And we are just beginning to feel the aftereffects of. Butt most Cubans I talked to did not know the news and that is somewhat stunning. Over the years we have asked the Cuban government what their plan was going to be. And there was a sense they had a plan to blanket the airwaves.

I'm sure there will be more of a sense of organization in the days to come. But right now, other than the initial announcement by Raul Castro, we are not hearing the news reported widely here.

And people are stunned that perhaps the news is getting greater coverage for the moment on CNN than on Cuban state TV. But this news, even though Fidel Castro was 90 years old and suffered from ill health for over a decade now, so many times when we heard he was on death's door, or false rumors that he had in fact died, tonight the news that we expected for so long, that Fidel Castro had passed away, is really still stunning people. We expected it and many of it planned for it.

But even for Cubans I know, who wished for this, now that it has happened, there is a great sense of uncertainty.

What happens next?

Of course, Fidel Castro is no longer the president; he does not wield much power here. But he is such a large symbol that, of course, the most famous Cuban alive has passed away and someone who had such an impact, both positive and negative, on so many people's lives, is no more.

I think people will be reflecting and wondering and perhaps trying to provoke the government here, which wields quite a bit of authority over this island and it does not take provocations lightly.

So certainly in the days to come, I expect to see more police and more soldiers on the street and the beginnings of a plan to commemorate this man's life who had such a great impact on not only the island of Cuba where I am tonight but on the United States and around the world.

This is somebody who, despite the fact he was the leader of a small island, not very important geopolitically --

[01:10:00]

OPPMANN: -- became a leader known around the world.

How many people are known by their first name?

But Fidel Castro was and certainly tonight people are reeling with the news of his death here in Cuba.

HOWELL: CNN's dedicated correspondent to Havana, Cuba, Patrick Oppmann, live for us at this hour.

Patrick, I want to touch on something that you mentioned just last hour, the statement that Fidel Castro was described as "immortal until proven otherwise." This is a leader who was revered and loved by many and who was hated and despised by many.

So what would you say the general reaction is, as you point out, the news is slowly starting to get traction there in Cuba, that this former leader has died?

OPPMANN: I think people are just stunned. There is a bit of silence and a sense of sadness. I haven't seen too many tears, that perhaps will come later, whether they are real or people being told by the government to show their sadness at Fidel Castro's passing.

For many of the young people here, they never knew him as president. He has been out of power for 10 years, out of sight for 10 years. And certainly in his last years of rule here, did not lead the active life -- you know, Fidel Castro, at the beginning of the revolution, was a man who drove his own Jeep, shook people's hands, gave speeches all the time. Sometimes it would last for hours.

So there was really no escaping Fidel Castro for many, many years and in the last years he was somebody who was out of sight.

I recently just a few moments ago talked to his son a few months ago and Antonio Castro is a photographer. He takes all the pictures that we usually see of Fidel Castro. And he said his father did not want any monuments to him, that he wanted to project the image of sort of a simply scholar and revolutionary.

But that is when he changed. We expect the government here to celebrate what they call the historic leader of the revolution.

And Fidel Castro -- we often joke, with all the rumors of his death and all the plots over the years against him, that he said, the day I die nobody will believe it and, to a certain degree, that has been the reaction here. People have been told so long that Fidel was on death's door, that he wouldn't last much longer and he always seemed to just survive. He was a great survivor as some people refer to him. And he always just seemed to endure. And now that his life has ended at the age of 90, there is something

of a stunned silence, a hush over the city of Havana. It's late here. I think many Cubans will wake up with the news and will certainly feel that they are living in a different Cuba.

HOWELL: And, Patrick, I want to read this information that just came across our news desk from Raul Castro.

It reads -- and not verbatim but the following, "With profound pain, I announce that Fidel Castro died November 25th at 10:29 pm."

It goes on to say that his remains will be cremated in the early hours of tomorrow, Saturday, November 26th. So that is new information coming from the present leader of Cuba.

VANIER: It looks like Cuban authorities, Patrick, are ready to move very quickly on this.

OPPMANN: Absolutely. I mean, they have had many occasions over the years, even when Fidel Castro fell ill, he was on death's door. He himself said he did not expect to survive this long. It was not his wish. In some of his last televised appearances he said he did not expect to live much longer.

But he had an appearance just last week, where he met the president of Vietnam. He in recent months, you would see world leaders come and visit him at his home near Havana, not far from where I am right now, a heavily guarded area. And he kept this up and recently we saw, with quite a great frequency, leaders coming to meet with him and talking with him.

He could not stand at that point but he still was fairly clear. He would still engage in very lengthy conversations about any number of world topics.

His son, Antonio Castro, recently told me that he still managed to read quite a bit, was online -- which is a privilege that most Cubans don't have -- and he continued to stay very much involved in terms of being a witness of world affairs.

And so, you know, this is not what the scenario that many of us expected that he would disappear from public view.

We have seen a reclusive world leader, a lot of him lately, a string of meetings but apparently his health, which was always very fragile in the last few days, took a turn for the worse. And Fidel Castro has passed away. And that will be an event that marks every Cuban's life.

I think you could safely say that every Cuban, when they learn this news, will remember where they were and who told them and the days to follow. This is an event you just cannot underestimate the importance for people here and around the world.

HOWELL: It is one of those moments that many people, certainly in Cuba but absolutely around the world -- they know that name Fidel Castro. And to hear this news that is one of those moments that you remember.

VANIER: And he is a history book unto himself, whatever you think of the man. He represents a period --

[01,:00]

VANIER: -- a half a century, if not more, of history.

It's Cuba, it's Cuba and the U.S., it's the rest of the world, his influence over Latin American leaders.

And we're going to be breaking down all this here on CNN. We're going to look at his influence and his legacy. Patrick has been talking about that a lot.

Patrick, you're standing by. You're, of course, going to be with us for the foreseeable hours. For now, let's look at the role of the army in Cuba because it has had a big role in Fidel Castro's Cuba ever since he came to power. Here is the package that Patrick Oppmann put together.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OPPMANN (voice-over): From the moment they rolled into Havana that New Year's Day 1959, ragged, bearded and unwashed, the rebels that became the island's military were bent on a radical break from the past.

Today, more than 50 years later, Cuba's armed forces remain the country's most powerful institution and key to Cuba's future.

During most of that period while military leaders elsewhere in Latin America came and went, Raul Castro was Cuba's minister of defense. Now he's president. While other regional militaries earned a reputation as kingmakers and coup plotters, knocking down governments as they saw fit, Cuba's military always stood by Fidel Castro and the Communist Party. It was left to the interior ministry to enforce Communist Party rule.

It's worth stressing the monolithic unity of the people, the army and the party, said Raul Castro in a parade marking the 50th anniversary of the armed forces. This unity is our main strategic weapon which has allowed this little island to resist and defeat so many aggressive acts of the imperialists.

While other forces in the region have often focused on internal security, Cuban soldiers earned experience abroad. Tens of thousands fought in Angola, the Congo, Ethiopia and Mozambique, supporting leftist movements and regimes.

But what really distinguishes Cuba's military is its role in the economy. This is the face of Cuba's military today just as much as troops in tanks. The army directly controls many tourist hotels like this one and they have a hand in everything from mining to telecommunications. Though that economic role started well beforehand, it expanded quickly

after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of Soviet subsidies.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The armed forces with their tradition of hierarchy and discipline and -- particularly discipline -- were asked to take over in the sense of posting officers in and actually militarizing the industry. By militarizing, that meant military discipline could be applied to the workers there.

OPPMANN (voice-over): But most importantly, the military is the backbone of the country's government. Its loyalty and close ties to the Communist Party make Cuba's armed forces a much more likely source of continuity than change -- Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Havana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: Patrick Oppmann, thank you. Again, CNN following the breaking news, Fidel Castro dead at the age of 90 years old.

And just taking a look, Cyril, over social media, looking at the reaction over Twitter, there are many different responses. But just to talk about the mix that you see. Again, this is a leader who was loved by some, who was hated by others, you do get that sense as history will make the final determination on the life, the legacy of Fidel Castro.

Again, died at the age of 90 years old. Let's bring in our global affairs correspondent, Elise Labott, who is also joining us from Washington, following this breaking news this hour.

Elise, let's talk just a bit more about that, because, again, you do have sort of a mix when it comes to popular opinion of this name that so many people have learned in school, as Cyril pointed out. You learn about Fidel Castro in the history books.

What would you expect to hear, from the reaction in Miami and the reaction in Cuba, as the news slowly starts to gain traction?

LABOTT: George, I think it's going to be such a mixed reaction. Some of these Cuban Americans have grown up in the United States, never having actually even been back to Cuba.

And it's just in recent years that there's talk about that, you know, that they have been able to go back and see their Cuban relatives or send money back home. And really the whole idea of Fidel Castro is more of a myth and more of a legend than anything that they have experienced.

But, yet, there are so many Cuban Americans that did live in Cuba and have migrated to the United States, have become citizens and made America their home. So I think it's going to be a lot of mixed emotions.

Some people will be very happy. Some people will feel nostalgic, perhaps and some people will -- [01:20:00]

LABOTT: -- wonder what this new era is going to be for the U.S. and Cuba. There was always the expectation that, once Fidel Castro would die, that perhaps that would bring the floodgates open between the U.S. and Cuba.

President Obama kind of preempted that in recent years with this restoring of diplomatic ties between the U.S. and Cuba.

Certainly the floodgates have not opened. It has been a historic and landmark deal between the U.S. and Cuba but it has been a very slow rapprochement. It's not moving very fast. But it is moving very steadily.

And I think Cubans are going to wonder, under President-Elect Trump, is this rapprochement going to continue?

Are the U.S. and Cuban people going to move closer together?

Are these economic and cultural and trade ties that have begun to be open, will that open continue?

Or will it be shut?

Will President-Elect Trump undo some of these landmark deals that President Obama started in recent years?

HOWELL: Even though the deal, the change and the improving of relations has happened under Raul Castro and the President, Barack Obama, of the United States, I remember even Fidel had somewhat of a defiant tone in a written statement about those improved relations. So even though many people were applauding it, praising it, Castro had some reservations.

(CROSSTALK)

VANIER: Yes, and let's bring back -- sorry, Elise, go ahead.

LABOTT: Oh, no, I was just going to say, of course, that's true. And so I think the Cuban government was really looking for that economic opportunity.

How was the regime going to benefit?

How was the Cuban economy going to benefit?

But the question was, were the Cuban people really going to benefit from this opening?

Of course the expectation is that more businesses, you know, as more businesses, more restaurants, more hotels, more business owners, more taxi drivers were able to get more of the benefits of American tourists perhaps going down, some of this investment in the Cuban economy, that that would trickle down. We haven't necessarily seen that yet. So the question is, if President-Elect Trump is going to continue this

rapprochement, what he said was that he wants to make sure that it begins to trickle down to the Cuban people. It can't just be a good deal for the Cuban regime. It has to be a deal for the Cuban people as well. And that will certainly remain to be seen.

VANIER: All right. Elise Labott in Washington, our foreign affairs correspondent thank you very much. And of course we will come back to you in a short while.

I want to go back to Havana, Cuba, where CNN correspondent Patrick Oppmann is standing by.

Patrick, I want to ask you right now if there is any -- in your opinion -- and I want to tap into your knowledge about Cuba and Cubans, is the grip of Raul Castro on the Cuban government fragile right now?

Is it vulnerable?

OPPMANN: No, it does not appear to be. Let's just point out an example. You mentioned where you had Raul Castro taking a very different tack than his brother, engaging with the United States. And while he was doing that, Fidel Castro criticized him and criticized the policy openly but that did not change the engagement.

So Raul Castro has now had 10 years to consolidate his power and he has all the titles that his brother has had. He is in charge of the military and he is president of Cuba but he is also 85 years old.

And he is, now more than ever, probably, perhaps, aware of his mortality. Raul Castro has said he would step down in February of 2018. We'll see with this news, perhaps that changes. But we have always said that nature, mortality happens for everyone, even Fidel Castro, a man who seemed that he could escape death whenever it came for him. And that, of course, has changed.

So Raul Castro has had 10 years, many times getting rid of the Fidel loyalists, putting his own people in and he very much controls this island. But certainly the opponents here and with outside of Cuba will find this to be an opportunity to try to provoke him, to try to call for greater liberty on the island.

And we expect to see that. We expect to see the government exerting perhaps more control but Raul Castro, in terms of the government of Cuba, he has had 10 years since his brother stepped down to really take over -- and he has done that.

He has done economic openings that his brother, Fidel, resisted. He is now engaged with the United States, something his brother, Fidel Castro not only did not do while he was president but criticized Raul Castro and the policy of Raul Castro of engagement.

So this is perhaps the end of the transition from the Fidel Castro era to the Raul Castro era.

[01:25:00]

OPPMANN: And now, in the final year of his presidency, Raul Castro has said he will begin to turn it over to the next generation. That will be very tricky because, of course, Raul Castro is part of that revolutionary generation. He fought with Fidel Castro.

So it was very easy for him to succeed Fidel Castro in that sense that he was always Fidel Castro's most trusted aide and ally. Sometimes when Fidel Castro only had a handful of people following him, Raul Castro was always there.

The generation that follows, it's going to be much trickier because they are not revolutionaries. They are not people who fought in the Cuban revolution and winning the trust and the respect of people is going to be much more different for them.

And just backing up to the news that Fidel Castro is going to be cremated. I think that is so interesting because we always wondered what was going to happen.

Would he be displayed like Lenin?

Would as other leaders?

I remember I was here when the revolutionary, Che Guevara, was brought back and his remains -- Cubans passed by those remains for days, hundreds of thousands of Cubans.

So Fidel Castro will be cremated but, after that, what will happen?

We certainly expect very public ceremonies, a lot of official examples of mourning. And then I think a big question mark, Cubans now wonder if their lives will finally get better after this news or if, because Raul Castro is in total control and we don't expect major changes to emerge from this monumentous (sic) event, that things will continue the same here.

And, of course, Cubans continue to leave the island in record numbers and the economy here remains in very dire circumstances.

So while there is perhaps hope for many Cubans that this passing of the torch, the most significant figure of the old guard, the historic leader of the revolution, as he was called, has now died, that their lives will be somewhat improved.

But there really is no evidence that that is going to happen because the people that Fidel Castro trusted the most, his brother, Raul, remain very much in control of the island.

VANIER: And, Patrick, I just want to follow up on what I was asking a second ago about any potential vulnerability to the Cuban government. And I understand what you're saying, that they were prepared for this eventuality. Of course they knew it would happen. Of course they prepped for it. And as you say, the fact that the cremation is happening so quickly in

just a few hours shows that they were ready for this, they were planning for this.

But this is the kind of event of such magnitude and Fidel Castro casts such a long shadow over Cuba, that this -- it's the kind of thing that can reshuffle the cards. And that's why I'm asking you the question.

If you think there's any potential for vulnerability there or is it still the Cuba that we have analyzed and commented on for so long, where things are just locked down and nothing's going to change?

OPPMANN: You know, certainly while they have the soldiers, they have control -- Raul Castro not only runs the military and the political structure but the army -- but I have known Cubans over the years who have said they were not Communists, that they were Fidelistas. That they believed in Fidel Castro and while they didn't agree with everything, that they respected and revered the man.

Now that the man is gone, I think there will be some Cubans that say now what?

We stayed true to Fidel Castro. His idea of a revolution that led the island to where it is now, the economic problems the island has -- of course, the island remains under economic sanctions, very severe economic sanctions and I think people will expect, with this momentous occasion, that perhaps Raul Castro will address them and point to, perhaps, something of a different future.

But having lived here for now five years, I was here during the Fidel Castro era, I saw Fidel Castro during one of his speeches quite up close, I think people who would expect something different to happen, expect that Raul Castro could somehow fall or the Cuban government is in somehow danger of collapse, that their hopes are up too high.

They have had a long time to prepare for this. Of course it's an island that is very tightly controlled and probably tonight is more controlled than ever. Just last week they were going through island- wide military exercises.

So I fully expect that the Cuban military and the Cuban government is on a high alert tonight, looking for any kind of dissent or any kind of threats, both internal or external. It is going to be a very tense time over the next few days. But again, Raul Castro, although he is 85, he is very much in control of the country and he is going to be showing his influence and the fact that he has a tight grasp on power very much so in the days to come.

HOWELL: Raul Castro, as you point out, the leader and in control of the nation but, at the same time, Raul Castro leading a population, as you point out, not all are revolutionaries. Many are people who are more interested in wi-fi, getting wi-fi connections, getting cell phones, getting new cars and seeing these improved relations, travel relations with the United States.

[01:30:00] So it will be telling and interesting to see the reaction as, again, this news continues to gain traction. Let's reset the bottom of the hour for our viewers here in the United States and around the world.

This news that the former leader of Cuba, who led that nation for nearly half a century, Fidel Castro, has died at the age of 90 years old.

I'm George Howell, alongside my colleague here, Cyril Vanier.

And we are following this news just to give a breakdown of the history, Cyril. Fidel Castro, born August 13th, 1926, he led the Cuban revolution in 1959, turning the island nation into the first Communist regime in the Western Hemisphere.

CYRIL VANIER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): And Castro ruled Cuba for nearly 50 years, first as prime minister and then president. He was known for his long, fiery speeches, his military fatigues, of course, and his cigars.

He brought social reforms to Cuba but he has been widely criticized for oppressing human rights and freedom of speech. During his reign, thousands of Cubans fled for the United States.

Health problems finally forced Castro to resign the presidency in 2008 and he named his brother, Raul, as his successor back then. So Raul has been running the country for 10 years.

And as our correspondent in Havana was telling us, it has been a fairly smooth transition in that respect because Fidel Castro wasn't running the country anymore.

HOWELL: Right. CNN has team coverage this hour. We have a dedicated correspondent to Cuba, following Fidel Castro's death. Patrick Oppmann is live with us this hour.

Elise Labott is also following the reaction in Washington, our foreign affairs correspondent. But let's now bring in Armando Salguero, who is a columnist with the "Miami Herald," joining us now live on the phone.

I do want to point out Armando is a columnist and a critic of Castro.

So I would like to get your reaction from Miami at this breaking news that we're following.

ARMANDO SALGUERO (PH), "MIAMI HERALD": Well, as I said earlier on Twitter, I am shedding tears tonight but they are tears of joy. And you know, hell has a special place for Fidel Castro. And there's one less vacancy in hell tonight.

HOWELL: Armando Salguero, again, a columnist and critic of Fidel Castro, who is with the "Miami Herald" on the line with us.

Let's also talk first of all just about the reaction of many others. You've explained your feelings on this but in Miami I know that the feelings run deep as well and they are divided between those who are older and those who are younger.

SALGUERO: Well, you know, I'm not so sure that that's true. I would say that the exiled community in Miami is divided politically as it pertains to American politics. The older generation is much more conservative, probably, you know, leaning Republican. The younger generation is much more progressive, probably leaning towards the Democrats.

But as it pertains to Cuban politics, as it pertains to Fidel Castro I think that is a homogenous front. I think that none of them -- the reason that those people are in the United States is because they could not make a life in Cuba.

They could not find a way to live with any sort of freedom, with any sort of expression, with the common decencies that Americans enjoy every day; those decencies of human rights are lacking in Castro's Cuba. And so, young or old, that is known among the Miami exile community.

HOWELL: Armando Salguero, on the phone with us, again, with the "Miami Herald," a columnist.

Armando, thank you for being with us. Please stand by. We will come back to you for more reaction and I'm sure you will be speaking with many other people to get their response, their thoughts on this important breaking news.

VANIER: Let's bring back in Elise Labott, CNN foreign affairs correspondent.

Elise -- and I'm sure Washington will be reacting and we'll ask you what that reaction is when that comes out. But before that happens I would like to turn our attention to the rest of the continent, the rest of the Americas, Central America, Latin America, where so many leaders, including some who are still in power, were influenced by the political path and the political rhetoric of Fidel Castro and what he stood for.

Can you tell us more about what, perhaps, what the perceptions might be in the rest of the Americas?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think that you continue to see a real left-wing politics throughout the region, in countries like Bolivia, for instance --

[01:35:00]

LABOTT: -- and countries like Venezuela. But I think that, you know, again, this is a kind of a modern-day leftism and the kind of revolutionaries that we saw in Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, I think, are maybe a thing more of the past. This is more of a modern-day leftist politics.

So I think it will be a real symbolic day for the region. But I do think that the region has moved on, although they all maintain good relations with Fidel Castro, I think this more modern era of leftist politics, while it certainly has its roots in leaders like Fidel Castro, I think, is moving forward.

So as I was asking the question, I was looking also at pictures of Fidel Castro with Nicolas Maduro, the current Venezuelan president. I was reminding myself that the not very long ago, just a few days ago, in fact, the second version of the peace deal between the Colombian government and the FARC guerrilla group was being negotiated in Havana.

So Havana still has that diplomatic place as a power broker or as a -- as a place of diplomacy for Latin American conflicts and countries.

LABOTT: Certainly it does. But you have to remember that Fidel Castro, while his good offices, if you will, have been used for these kinds of deals, he hasn't necessarily been intimately involved in these in some time.

So the tentacles of the government that he put in place -- certainly Cuban officials have helped, Raul Castro has helped. But while Fidel Castro has used his good name and his symbolism to help these conflicts and these governments -- and he has, as Patrick Oppmann had said, he hasn't been in power for 10 years or so.

So I think it's this new generation of Cubans, such as Raul Castro, that will perhaps continue to be having Cuba as a -- you know, helping in these types of diplomatic negotiations.

VANIER: All right, Elise Labott, thank you very much, our foreign affairs correspondent here at CNN, reporting from Washington.

HOWELL: CNN is following this breaking news and we are getting reaction from Cuba. We are also getting reaction from Miami, where many Cubans live and as you would imagine, Cyril, our affiliates there, CNN affiliates are very busy getting reaction from the many people.

We are getting some reports from affiliates that people are celebrating in the streets of Miami, given the news of Fidel Castro's death.

We're also following some information -- let's bring in our CNN writer and producer, Alejandro Fonseca, who is on the phone in Miami.

And, again, Alejandro, if you can hear me, you are at the famous Versailles restaurant there. Talk to us just about what you're seeing and the reaction that you are hearing?

ALEJANDRO FONSECA, CNN WRITER AND PRODUCER: Right now it's a sense of jubilation. You're seeing people are marching down Cuyaocho (ph) right now, holding a big, big Cuban flag in the street. You are seeing people carrying out the traditional pots and pans you would normally see in any sort of sporting celebration that happens in South Florida, if the Dolphins were to win a Super Bowl or if the Marlins won the World Series.

They're out now and they are clanging, following the death of Fidel Castro. So it's a weird mix of emotions right now. You are seeing almost -- you're seeing jubilation, celebration and then you're seeing also saddened faces. You're seeing people crying, just what was lost, people who were exiled in this community, who haven't been in their homeland for decades.

Their grandparents haven't been able to go back. So it is bittersweet emotion right now. And it's definitely the most crazy I have seen this city in quite some time.

VANIER: Alejandro, about the emotions that you are seeing, we were speaking to a columnist at the "Miami Herald" a second ago and he was very categorical, saying that there is no one there who will shed a tear for Fidel Castro.

He is someone who is extremely critical of the late Cuban leader.

Just to be clear, the emotions that you're seeing out there, are they mixed emotions, when you say people are crying?

Or are people all one-sided about this?

FONSECA: Let me -- well, I think the "Miami Herald" writer had a very good point. It's crying in the sense of -- I guess it's the overwhelming moment of it all, the fact that they never thought this moment was going to come. I have been --

[01:40:00]

FONSECA: -- in this market when I was in local news for about five years. You would constantly get tales of a hoax, that Fidel Castro had passed on. And some sort of vindication I assume for what was lost when people were pushed out of their homeland. So the tears that are being shed are not for the loss but more so just for the overall moment.

HOWELL: Alejandro Fonseca, following the situation in Miami, where, again, as we are hearing from him and we're seeing from our affiliates reporting, that people are celebrating in the streets, celebrating the fact that the former Cuban leader, Fidel Castro, has died at the age of 90 years old.

VANIER: A few hours ago, Cuban leader Raul Castro informed the Cuban people in a televised statement of the death of his brother, Fidel.

Raul said, quote, "Dear people of Cuba, with profound pain I have to sadly inform you, to our friends from America and to the world, that, today, November 25th, 2016, at 10:29 in the evening, the commander and leader of the Cuban revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz, died.

"Following the explicit desires of leader Fidel, his remains will be cremated in the early hours of tomorrow, Saturday, 26th of November.

"The Organizing Commission of the Funerals will give our people detailed in fn about the organization of the posthumous tribute that we will give you to the founder of the Cuban revolution. Until victory, always." HOWELL: Again, we are getting reaction from Cuba with CNN's dedicated correspondent in Cuba, Patrick Oppmann, is live with us this hour. We have Elise Labott following the reaction in Washington as we hear word from the U.S. government on the passing of this former leader.

Also we are touching base with our many writers, columnists, people in Miami to get reaction there. Again, people celebrating the death, many celebrating the death of Fidel Castro.

Two things about this former leader that there can be no doubt: he was in power for quite a long time and the feelings about him are mixed. CNN's Martin Savidge has more now on his life and legacy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Depending on whom you talk to, Fidel Castro was a revered revolutionary legend or a despised tyrannical dictator. There is little middle ground.

Castro came to power in 1959 in a widely popular revolution overthrowing Cuba's then-dictator Fulgencio Batista. The new government quickly gained the recognition of the United States but it wasn't long before the bearded rebel's leftist ideology put him on a collision course with America.

Especially when he allied himself with the Soviet Union, seeing a new threat just 90 miles offshore, the U.S. decided to act.

JOHN F. KENNEDY, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have directed the armed forces to...

SAVIDGE (voice-over): First launching a trade embargo, followed by the failed CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion and several assassination attempts on Castro, all this while the Cuban leader allowed the Soviet Union to secondly build nuclear missile bases on the island.

When they were discovered by the U.S. in 1962, the so-called Cuban missile crisis brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. As Castro turned more and more to Socialism, thousands of his well-to-do Cubans fled the country.

The millions left behind became part of his new social experiment, a one-party Communist state, led by one man -- himself.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): He imposed the idea that those who didn't like it could leave. He divided families.

SAVIDGE (voice-over): Many saw positives, education and health care for all, racial integration.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): What Fidel achieved in the social order of this country has not been achieved by any poor nation and even by many rich countries, despite being submitted to enormous pressures.

SAVIDGE (voice-over): But critics say it came at a terrible cost. UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The dreams of freedom that had given the Cuban people were turned into the nightmare we live today because we have a totalitarian regime in which all basic liberties have been abolished.

SAVIDGE (voice-over): What Castro never managed to achieve was economic prosperity, even with years of subsidies from the Soviet Union. For that, Castro always blamed the United States and its embargo but many blame the man himself, pointing to his unwavering belief in an outdated and inefficient Socialist model.

Castro had little tolerance for dissent. Opponents were often dismissed as traitors, imprisoned or exiled. As more and more dissidents ended up under arrest, Castro became the target of international condemnation. But like so many times before, Castro never backed down, proudly defending his record on human rights.

FIDEL CASTRO, CUBAN LEADER (through translator): There hasn't been a single case of death squads here. Never has a person disappeared in Cuba, which has been common practice all over Latin America. So we feel proud of our clean record with relation to --

[01:45:00]

FIDEL CASTRO (through translator): this problem.

SAVIDGE (voice-over): Call it pride or selective reasoning but Castro never lost faith in the revolution. Opponents concede Castro's popularity diminished as his beard grew whiter. But his intelligence and shrewdness continued to command fear and respect.

He would eventually outlive many of his critics and outlast 10 U.S. administrations. In the end, it was illness, not Washington, that forced him to retire, passing Cuba's leadership to his younger brother, Raul.

In his last years, Castro appeared only occasionally, mostly in photos, looking frail. At times he tried to play the role of elder statesman but more and more he seemed inconsequential.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): The Cuban government has been very agile. It has slowly removed him from the scene. It would have been one thing if he had abruptly died back on July 31st, 2006. Instead, his image and importance have slowly faded.

SAVIDGE (voice-over): Castro always insisted death was not something he feared.

FIDEL CASTRO (through translator): I have never been afraid of death and I have never been concerned about death. I have learned not to feel attached to positions and not to be attached to that which is called power.

SAVIDGE (voice-over): That latter statement seems ironic, coming from a man who almost single-handedly dictated over Cuba for nearly half a century. (END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: 49 years. CNN's Martin Savidge with that report for us. Let's now bring in CNN Dallas correspondent, Ed Lavandera, who is live and on the line with us this hour.

And, Ed, I know that this is a story you have covered for some time. You've traveled to Cuba; you've spoken to people to get their reactions and their thoughts about the present leadership and the figure that is always in the shadow of Fidel Castro.

What do you expect the reaction to be in the hours and the days to come?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think it's going to be an experience of intense emotion, especially here in the United States, for millions of Cuban exiles, who have called the United States home for such a long time and have now -- many of these people who -- you know, we're talking about -- and I'm speaking here on a couple of different levels, George, as the son of Cuban exiles and as a reporter who has had the privilege of seeing all the changes firsthand that have happened between the relationship between the United States and Cuba over the course of the last couple of years.

It has been a fascinating experience. But speaking to the first part of that, for millions of Cuban exiles, many of them talking -- we're about my grandparents' generation, who left thinking that perhaps they would only be gone for a short time from Cuba and then realized many decades later that this would be an island and a homeland that they would never be returning to and set up roots and established roots here in the United States.

An incredibly emotional time. So as we put on the images I don't think you can really lose sight of the fact that as you see the images and the pictures of Fidel Castro, as we look back and report on his life, just the magnitude and the intensity of emotion that his image alone brings out for millions of Cuban exiles.

And in many ways, it's feelings and emotions of anger and resentment toward him for breaking up families. They blame him directly for families that have been divided and split up for decades.

Take my family, for instance; my grandmother and grandparents left in 1959-1960. My grandmother would never go on to see her brother and sister again. She lived to be almost 90 years old and never saw her brother and sister again.

So these kinds of emotions are, even after this amount of time, incredibly raw and real for millions of people here in the United States.

I was just in Cuba last week reporting and I can say, from that side, when you talk to people, they are very much -- it's an interesting relationship I found that many Cubans have with Fidel Castro.

I spoke with many people last week in Havana, who would, if you asked them what do they believe in politically these days, I remember one woman we spoke with who said I'm not a socialist but I'm a Fidelista. I believe in Fidel Castro.

So this is a complex mindset, someone who doesn't think of themselves as a socialist, a woman who was trying to start her own business there in Havana now but still, in many ways, remains very loyal --

[01:50:00]

LAVANDERA: -- to Fidel.

Now is that because she is speaking with an international reporter and wants to put on a good face?

It's kind of hard to say. But the power that Fidel Castro has still kind of has over many people there on the island is very real as well.

VANIER: All right. Ed, please stay with us. I want to bring in Rafael Romo now, our CNN correspondent. All of you have very special input on this story.

Rafael, you know this continent -- Central America, Latin America, of course, this country, the U.S., inside and out. And this Cuban story and Fidel Castro is a part of that.

When you were coming into the studio to give us your insights, did you have -- were you able to take a second to take in the magnitude of this?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SR. LATIN AFFAIRS EDITOR: I was thinking about a conversation that I had with a college student in Havana the last time I was there. And I was asking him, do you ever want to have free elections in your country?

And his answer was, where are you from?

And I said, I'm originally from Mexico.

"Well, you have free elections and are you guys doing any better than we are?"

That was his answer. And that tells you a lot about the degree to which young people were indoctrinated, for lack of a better term, and how much they believed in echoing the words that Ed Lavandera was just saying, that they were not necessarily socialists but they were definitely Fidelistas.

And it would be very difficult to find any other figure in modern Latin American history that has had more influence, more power than Fidel Castro.

Think about the guy. He was only 26 years old when he attacked the government of Fulgencio Batista in 1953 -- 26. I mean, you think nowadays about a 26-year-old guy and they are barely getting out of college, trying to figure out life. He was, in 1959, when -- and he entered Havana triumphantly with his

army, he was not yet 33 years old. The Bay of Pigs invasion, the Cuban missile crisis, all of that happened before he turned 30 years old.

And if you read the story of how he made it all the way from Vera Cruz, Mexico, on the boat called The Grandma, across the Caribbean and got into Cuba, they capsized.

And out of an army of more than 100, it was only a few dozen that they had left and most of them were killed and he was trying to hide in a cornfield and, according to his own words, he was on his back for three days, trying to take cover from the Batista army.

So it is just an incredible story, regardless of your politics, regardless of your political persuasion. It's just an incredible story of survival. Think about the many assassination attempts he survived -- many, many. It's just incredible and the many governments, not only the United States, that wanted him dead and the fact he is dying at the age of 90 of natural causes, that's just incredible.

HOWELL: Let's now bring in a columnist with the "Miami Herald," Armando Salguero (ph), who is also following the situation.

Armando, we had you on the line just a while ago. I want to get your feelings.

First of all, your response and reaction to what you are seeing on the streets of Miami?

What is the feeling there, given this breaking news?

SALGUERO (PH): Well, again, the exile community in Miami is not a community that's going to mourn the death of Fidel Castro.

OK?

I understand that there are Fidelistas in Cuba proper that are upset and obviously wary of what might come next, although there is still a Castro in power. It's not "the" Castro that is in power.

Having said that, I understand and I've been watching your excellent coverage and I see this narrative of, well, this wasn't such a bad guy. And please understand, if you look at history, you understand that he was a villain, in fact.

This is a man who, during the Cuban missile crisis, if you read the records from the former Soviet Union that were uncovered, once the Soviet Union fell by the wayside, he was encouraging Nikita Khrushchev to use atomic weapons against the United States.

This is a guy whose air force, his MiGs over international waters shot down the Brothers to the Rescue Cessnas, basically like little commuter plane, puddle jumpers --

[01:55:00]

SALGUERO (PH): -- because they were, much to his chagrin, they were patrolling international waters unarmed because people had decided that launching out into shark-infested waters, into the Atlantic Ocean, was a better idea than actually living under Fidel Castro's rule.

HOWELL: Armando, I want to --

(CROSSTALK)

SALGUERO (PH): -- rescue were the guys that were trying to help out those people that were in open water.

(CROSSTALK)

HOWELL: Armando, I want to interject and -- I want to interject and I do, with all due respect, point out, as your role of columnist, we understand that you will take a position on this and just want to make sure that, as you suggest that there is a narrative, there is no narrative. We are simply covering the news and the news is simply that Fidel Castro has died at age 90.

And there will be revolutionaries who will mourn his death. There are those also in Miami, as you rightly point out, who are celebrating in the streets. I would ask you to stay with us because we'd like to speak with you much more through the evening.

I also want to bring in our correspondent, Rafael Romo, just to get your thoughts on what you're hearing from Mr. Salguero (ph).

ROMO: I very much understand what he is saying because you have to think about the hundreds of thousands, millions of people who had to leave Cuba with nothing, absolutely nothing, either because they didn't have anything to eat anymore or because they were people who were politically persecuted.

Think about the Mariel (ph) boat, for example, in the 1980s, think about the Peter Pan kids, kids who were 6, 7, even younger, whose parents said it is better for me to let my children go to the United States, even if I cannot come with them, than to have them live here under this dictatorship.

So I very much understand what he's saying. Think about the people, the exiles in Miami, who died waiting for this moment. And the assumption, up until I want to say the '90s, was that, if Fidel died, the Cuban regime, the Cuban government was going to change.

It is not very clear to me that that's going to happen anymore because the plan to keep the same political system in place is well underway.

HOWELL: And as we pointed out and our correspondents have covered this, now we are looking at a population that is, quite frankly, excited about the fact that now, hey, I can go find a wi-fi connection. Now perhaps I can get a little better food. So yes, this is the situation for many people that live -- (CROSSTALK)

ROMO: And we also have to think beyond Cuba. The influence that Fidel Castro had on the Latin American Left, it's just impossible to describe -- just in the last 20 years, for example.

Can you think about somebody like Hugo Chavez in Venezuela rising to power without the inspiration of Fidel Castro?

Can you think about presidents like Bolivia's Eva Morales, Christina Kirchner in Argentina, the political pendulum moving to the left in Latin America in the last 20 years?

It was all due to Cuba and it was Castro and his brother, Raul, right there to help them along the way.

HOWELL: We are about to take a break. Stay with us. For our viewers in the United States and around the world, following the death of Fidel Castro here on CNN. We'll be right back.