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Raul Castro Announces Former Cuban Leader Fidel Castro Dead at 90; Cubans React to Fidel Castro's Death. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired November 26, 2016 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.

CYRIL VANIER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Breaking news on CNN. Hi, everyone. Thank you for joining us. I'm Cyril Vanier.

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): And I'm George Howell. We are following this breaking news. The former leader of Cuba, Fidel Castro, dead at the age of 90 years old.

VANIER: The former president and revolutionary leader was 90 years old. And for years he had been out of the public eye. His brother, the current president, Raul Castro, made the announcement on Cuban television. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAUL CASTRO, PRESIDENT OF CUBA (through translator): 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER: We can speak now to Patrick Oppmann, CNN correspondent in Cuba in the capital, Havana.

Patrick, what are the reactions you have been seeing?

I know it's early in the night. Almost the middle of the night in Havana. What are you hearing from Cubans?

What reactions are you getting?

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just about everyone that knows about it that I've talked to learned it from me. We got the news fairly quickly and began to tell people and there was just stunned silence.

Some didn't believe it but they -- people were crying but there was a sense of forbidding (sic) and not knowing what the future brings. To go back to what Raul Castro was saying, we do now know that Fidel Castro will be cremated.

I have lived here five years. When there is a death of a revolutionary figure or someone like Hugo Chavez, when they pass away, a funeral (sic) atmosphere takes over the island. Music is no longer allowed to be played in the streets; concerts are canceled, school is cancelled.

I remember when Hugo Chavez died in Venezuela, in my children's school they said that children couldn't sing that day. So it really takes effect across the island. And this is so much bigger than that.

I expect that a period of mourning will go on for days if not weeks and there will be a state funeral the likes of which Cuba has never seen and probably one of the biggest we've seen in recent years.

And I think many Cubans will ask, what now?

People will continue to be led by Raul Castro. So we can expect major changes to take place. He has always said that he is the first follower of Fidel Castro. He's been his follower for all of his life and will remain true to the revolution.

For many Cubans, that's probably not going to be good enough. They want to see economic changes and perhaps some political openings and they want to see a better relationship with the United States.

Many of the Cubans I talked with over the years would like to see a continuation of what President Obama has embarked on. This is -- even though it is mostly symbolic, it's going to concern a number of people about what the future looks like here.

It is something that many people here have waited for a long time. Now that it has dawned on them -- remember, this is an island where people don't have Internet in their homes for the most part, they don't have wi-fi on their cellphones. They don't have roaming data.

So a lot of people probably don't know yet and they will wake up and learn the news tomorrow. But across the island, we are seeing that that people are calling their relatives, are hearing from relatives outside of the United States, where the news is being played outside of Cuba, where the news is being played a lot more.

Over the next few days, we do expect to see some mourning going on. But I think a lot of people very much concerned that this incredible event has happened and what will the impact be on their lives here on an island that has suffered a lot throughout the Cuban revolution.

Of course, the U.S. maintains an embargo on Cuba --

[02:05:00]

OPPMANN: -- and many people after the funeral, after the mourning is completed, will really wonder how this impacts their lives. They have lived, most people on this island, they have lived their entire lives with a Castro as president.

So very much the era of Fidel Castro has come to an end tonight and many people want to know what that means for them.

HOWELL: CNN's dedicated correspondent to Cuba, Patrick Oppmann, live for us this hour. And Patrick pointing out that many Cubans learned this information from him. The news just starting to spread.

Patrick --

VANIER: Many don't know yet. They're still learning.

HOWELL: They are still learning, which is very fascinating.

But, Patrick, please stand by with us. I also want to bring in CNN correspondent Rafael Romo. Rafael has covered the geopolitics of Latin America for many years.

And, Rafael, Patrick pointed this out but many people in Cuba are looking at the changes that have been happening under Raul Castro. Under the U.S. president, Barack Obama, improved travel relations, improved relations as a whole.

Is this a possible opening for the Raul Castro government to push more improvements and the bit of uncertainty with the United States now bringing in a new president, Donald Trump, in January?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SR. LATIN AFFAIRS EDITOR: Oh, make no mistake about it. The succession plan started about 10 years ago, when Fidel Castro felt ill for the first time and wasn't able to continue to govern the island. He gave the reins to his brother, Raul, who became the official president in 2008.

Since then, they have been trying to educate, indoctrinate some of the younger members of the party that are of the same political persuasion to take some of the positions they will no longer be able to have. So it's not going to be an overnight change in Cuba.

The little change that has been in the last year has been because they have had no choice. For example, when they started allowing people to have their own restaurants, that they changed the name. They don't call them restaurants. They call them paladares, which is a euphemism for letting people cook their own food.

It was because essentially people were dying of hunger, were starving to death and because the government could not pay the salaries anymore of so many government employees. So they had no other option.

And so on all of the changes that you have seen are because they have no other option as opposed to being open to the economy.

The other thing that I was looking at, just a few moments ago, is the number of Cubans, migrating to the United States since President Obama announced that there was going to be a reopening of the relationship between Cuba and the United States: 24,000 in 2014 -- that's the year that the announcement was made.

But listen to this, the following year it was almost double that, 43,000 and then fiscal year 2016, meaning up until October, 46,000 people. That doesn't mean -- that means, of course, that the economy on the island is not very good and that Cubans are essentially voting with their feet, leaving the island in droves.

VANIER: Voting with their feet, voting with their wallets.

Let's go to Patrick Oppmann now, who is on the ground in Cuba in Havana.

Patrick, throughout the course of this evening, of course, as we continue here on CNN to cover this and that the passing of Fidel Castro, we're going to look back at his life, his legacy and we will look forward at what the future of -- what may be in store for the future of Cuba. Right now I just want to look forward for very short- term future.

What can we expect as of tomorrow?

We expect, as I understand it, in a few hours, that the initial ceremonies will take place.

OPPMANN: We know Fidel Castro will be cremated early Saturday. That announcement was made by Raul Castro earlier on this evening, late yesterday, late in the evening, very much unexpected speech that was not -- the population here was not forewarned.

And we heard Raul Castro like we have never heard him. He was quite emotional and his voice -- and I have heard many of his speeches. I have to say, in the 1990s, when I was coverage Cuba, I had one opportunity to be in a room with Fidel Castro and certainly you were in a room of his supporters.

But when he walked in, you felt the air change. This is a man who had a presence. And for people here, who worshipped him, it was one reaction for the many people in cities like Miami, where I have lived for many years, it was outright hatred. They felt that he split their families, took away the property and forced people to flee the island and destroy the economy.

So this is not going to be resolved tomorrow. Fidel Castro, in the beginning of the revolution --

[02:10:00] OPPMANN: -- when he was taken prisoner he declared history will absolve me. Frankly the verdict on Fidel Castro has never been so cut and dried. But that verdict will really begin to be written in earnest now because his life is over, a remarkable life that affected so many people and has caused in Cuba incredible divisions and changes.

This island will never be the same, no matter what happens now. So we expect a period of mourning. We expect certainly restaurants and bars to be closed, music will not be allowed to be played here.

Typically what happens when an important figure dies, we expect left- leaning leaders from around the world to convene on Havana and certainly in the next days get a clearer picture of not only when Fidel Castro's state funeral will be carried out and where he could be buried and then get some sense in the weeks ahead of how this will change Cuba.

I think people are digesting this news. Fidel Castro always said that after all the false reports of his death over the years that nobody would believe it when it actually happened. And I think there is something of a stunned silence when I've encountered people, who have heard this news.

The news is still breaking here tonight because people don't have easy access to information, don't have access to information sources. I'm watching Cuban TV right now. And it's not being announced. It is an old documentary on Fidel Castro that's being played right now.

So unless people happen to see the initial newscast, happen to have access to Internet, which is a very small slice of the population here, they don't know. And it won't be perhaps until they read "Granma" in the morning that they learn of the death of this leader who really touched their lives, whether they wanted to not, for so many years.

His speeches -- Cubans were forced to go listen to them and they were played on all the radio and TV here. Really a life for decades revolved around Fidel Castro in Cuba and that's a chapter that's come to an end tonight.

HOWELL: Patrick Oppmann live at 2:12 in the morning following this breaking news that, again, as he pointed out, many people are learning from him.

Patrick, stand by with us.

Let's take a look at some images that we have from Miami. The reaction there and people as we're learning from our affiliates, many are celebrating in the streets, celebrating the death of this former leader of Cuba.

Let's bring in Armando Salguero, who is a columnist with the "Miami Herald," live on the phone with us.

Armando, thank you for being with us through the night. First of all, let's get your thoughts, when you first heard this news. What did you think?

ARMANDO SALGUERO, "MIAMI HERALD": Well, first of all, I thought that it needed to be resourced because there's a lot of -- or there have been, through the years, a lot of starts and stops on the death of Fidel Castro.

Oftentimes, what you have gotten is either false reports or erroneous reports or just -- it never really was the truth. So that happened so many times that I think people in South Florida decided, well, we're going to -- you know, fool us once, shame on you. Fool us a million times, shame on us. We're going to wait this time.

But, sure enough, this time is -- if you will, directly from Raul Castro, the horse's mouth. So we're going to choose to believe it.

HOWELL: Again, we did hear, as you point out, from Raul Castro, pointing out that Fidel Castro will be cremated in short order.

(CROSSTALK)

SALGUERO: -- interesting that that is the direction that they are going to go. I'm sure that there will be monuments built. I'm sure that there will be statues erected and I'm sure that, someday, when the Castros are no longer in power, those monuments and those statues -- it reminds me of the Saddam Hussein statue in Baghdad, the one that the Americans pulled down with the help of the Iraqis. That's going to be the fate of those Castro statues.

HOWELL: Armando Salguero is a columnist with the "Miami Herald," joining us this hour.

Armando, stand by with us. We will come right back to you.

VANIER: Our Rafael Romo joins us now, CNN correspondent.

Rafael, as we now have the confirmation that Fidel Castro has passed away, as Fidel passes, what dies with him?

ROMO: I feel like in a way one of the old vestiges of the Cold War is dying with him. Especially because the role that he played during the Cuban missile crisis and how close the then-USSR and the United States came to a full nuclear war --

[02:15:00]

ROMO: -- and how he was right in the middle and playing the one against the other the other. The other thing that comes to mind is how incredibly polarizing he was when he was alive, when he led government and how incredibly polarizing he is this morning.

It's incredible to see the reaction from different political factions in Latin America, in leftist countries, like Venezuela, like Bolivia, like Ecuador. They are eulogizing Castro as a hero, as a leader.

In other countries, they are talking about him as a villain, somebody who murdered thousands and thousands of people, somebody who forced generations after generations to flee Cuba.

VANIER: We heard just Armando Salguero there putting him in the same sentence as Saddam Hussein.

ROMO: That's right. That's right. And so there's no middle point with him. People either love him to death or hate him incredibly strongly. So and more than ever now that he is dead we can see that.

HOWELL: Let's take a look at what is happening right now on the streets of Miami. I think we have these images. You can see, look at this.

Celebrations, given the news is now spreading, people know Fidel Castro, this person that many have been impacted in one way or another, they now know that he is dead at the age of 90 years old.

And, Rafael, as you point out, there have been so many assassination attempts against Castro. There have been so many rumors about Castro's death. And Armando even pointed this out, that there have been stops and starts. People think that it happened but then they come to learn it wasn't. He said that there was a resourcing to make sure that, indeed, this is the case.

ROMO: Those of us who have been in this business for more than 20 years have had so many false calls, people calling him dead and, all of a sudden, he's not. And you go back and you ask the questions and do your homework and the reality is that he is alive and well. This time it's for real. But even those things were controversial about his life.

VANIER: So what's going to happen over the next few days?

Because he's going to be cremated. And I'm not asking you the blow- by-blow and we don't have that information yet. But I'm thinking more in terms of the politics of Cuba. Because when you are dealing with funeral ceremonies and ceremonies of any nature after the passing of this kind of figure, momentous figure, who marked not just country but an entire century, it is all politics.

So there's going to be -- what should we call it?

Is it going to be nation building over the next few days?

Is it going to be building, consolidating the memory, the legacy of the Castros in Cuba?

ROMO: Number one priority is going to be honor the memory of Fidel Castro from the government's perspective, from the Cuban government perspective.

Number two will be showing the international community that his model, his government model and his government system, is well and alive. And as I said before, if you look take a look at the last congress they had, the main thing about congress is to show the government, that it is a united front, that there are very small changes and essentially what Castro instituted all those years ago in the early '60s is alive and well today from their perspective.

Of course, if you look at the misery, if you look at the hunger that is very palpable in Cuba and if you look at the people who are still leaving desperately -- I was talking a moment ago about the fact that 46,000 people just in fiscal year 2006 alone left, that tells you a very vivid picture of what Cuba and Cubans are really experiencing.

But, again, there's going to be a lot of efforts, a lot of propaganda to try to show the Cuban government is a very united front in the next few days.

HOWELL: Again, as you point out, people either love or hate him.

ROMO: That's right.

HOWELL: Let's bring in now CNN writer and producer, Alejandro Fonseca. He was live in Miami.

And, Alejandro, I know you live here in Atlanta but you are vacationing there in Miami.

Just what are you seeing?

As we also bring back in our live images, if we still have them, we are seeing people celebrating on the streets of Miami.

What are you hearing?

ALEJANDRO FONSECA, CNN PRODUCER: I am here.

HOWELL: Alejandro, you are live and on the phone here with CNN. Again, tell us just what you are hearing and what you're seeing.

FONSECA: Yes, so right now I'm seeing a bunch of people out in the middle of the street, waving Cuban flags. The rain is coming down now but that is not deteriorating anybody from coming out and seemingly celebrating the death of Fidel Castro. Plenty of Cuban exiles here in the community out in full force.

They're (INAUDIBLE) their pots and pans if you can hear, they are --

[02:20:00]

FONSECA: -- just honking their horns like crazy right now. It is pandemonium. Police are doing their best right now in order to keep some semblance of order on the street here on Calle Ocho. And it is cars as long as the eye can see.

VANIER: As George notes, it will be interesting at some point to get a reaction also from Patrick Oppmann, our correspondent in Havana, to compare the scene because last time we spoke to him a few moments ago, I wasn't seeing any movement, any kind of agitation in Cuba.

He did explain to us that it was partly because not everybody in Havana actually knows yet. But it's going to be interesting -- Rafael, yes, I know you want to come in here -- to see the difference, this marked contrast between the reactions in Miami and in Havana.

ROMO: Well, you hear very loud and clear people banging on pots and pans. But the other thing that I just heard is the chance of freedom, freedom, freedom, libertad, libertad, libertad. That's something that we have heard in Miami for decades and decades and decades.

And, again, this moment makes me think of all of the exiles who, over the years, have died, waiting for this moment to happen, people who left Cuba in the early 1960s and they thought that they were going to be gone from the country for two years, three years, maybe five, not more than 10.

And the reality was that they had to rebuild their lives in Miami, rebuild their lives in Florida and elsewhere in the United States and never went back. And they waited in vain for this moment to happen.

So from their perspective, from their children, this is an incredible moment.

HOWELL: Let's bring Alejandro back in.

Alejandro, again, we're seeing these images of people, as you say, you're at Calle Ocho and you're talking about these images that we see, people celebrating in the streets.

I'm just curious to know if you have been able to speak to anyone. Rafael just mentioned that you talk about these Cuban exiles, the families of exiles. This is very personal to so many people.

Have you heard any personal reaction, just thoughts about this?

FONSECA: Well, one of my closest friends who's here in the celebration and he talked to me, fighting back tears, talking about this moment for his mother and his father, who had to flee the island of Cuba, telling me that it is a bittersweet moment.

And he's just wondering what will come of this in the end, especially with Raul still in power. He's just wondering if this is just a blip on the radar and just a small, bittersweet moment for them.

But, nonetheless, he said they are going to enjoy it for now because what Castro took from him and his family was just way too much.

HOWELL: Alejandro Fonseca, on the phone with us. He is a CNN writer and producer who is in Miami.

Alejandro, stay with us. We will get back to you here throughout the hour.

VANIER: And here's CNN Cuba correspondent Patrick Oppmann with a look back at Castro's life and how he transformed the country over the decades.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OPPMANN (voice-over): Castro was born here in rural eastern Cuba. His father's status as a wealthy landowner ensured his place in Cuban high society, even if he didn't always feel he belonged there.

Castro's mother was an uneducated maid and she didn't marry his father until after he was born. Growing up, Castro's schoolmates teased him about being born out of wedlock.

Castro studied in Havana to be a lawyer. Already a notorious rabble rouser, he soon became involved in revolutionary plots. In 1953, he led a failed uprising against dictator, Fulgencio Batista. Many of his followers were killed and Castro was captured.

During his trial, Castro declared, "History will absolve me."

After two years in prison Castro and his fellow revolutionaries were released and went into exile in Mexico. They returned to Cuba by boat, again, seeking to overthrow the island's dictatorship. And once again most of Castro's soldiers were slaughtered by government troops. At first Castro was also reported as having been killed.

When it was revealed that he had escaped to the mountains, Castro's legend and followers grew.

Cuba in the 1950s had earned the reputation as a debauched mob-run playground for Americans seeking gambling, cheap rum and sex shows.

[02:25:00]

OPPMANN (voice-over): After Castro took power, many Cubans hoped he would clean up the island while still remaining friendly to the U.S., Cuba's largest trading partner.

As seen in the 1960 interview with CBS' Edward R. Murrow, a pajama- wearing Castro initially sought to ease Americans' concerns about which side of the Cold War he was on.

FIDEL CASTRO, CUBAN DICTATOR: Do not worry because there is no threat about communism here in Cuba.

OPPMANN (voice-over): But Castro's prosecution and execution of officials from the previous regime and the nationalization of Americans' property in Cuba caused the U.S. to sever diplomatic ties with Cuba.

Dozens of CIA plots to assassinate Castro failed as did a U.S.-backed invasion at the Bay of Pigs. Now in the Soviets' camp, Castro in 1962 invited Moscow to secretly place nuclear missiles on the island. Discovery of the missiles led to its 13-day standoff between the U.S. and Soviet Union. Nuclear war appeared imminent until the Soviets agreed to remove the weapons.

Castro and the U.S. would remain engaged in proxy wars as the Cuban leader tried to implement Socialist revolutions around the world. For many Cubans, the U.S. trade embargo and failed Soviet-style economic policies made life intolerable.

Communism was the only ideology permitted on the island. Critics of the government often faced lengthy jail sentences. In 1980, Castro declared that anyone who wanted to could leave on a

boat to the U.S. Nearly 125,000 Cubans took him up on his offer. The fall of the Soviet Union further crippled Cuba's sluggish economy.

But Castro resisted major free market reforms or lifting prohibitions on life in Cuba. As always, Castro claimed he knew best.

Known for his ever-present cigar, beard, fatigues and marathon speeches, Fidel Castro would remain a thorn in the side for 10 U.S. presidents. It wasn't a CIA plot that forced Castro from power in 2006 but a botched stomach surgery.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Spanish).

OPPMANN (voice-over): Near death, he turned the reins over to his younger brother, Raul. Once an omnipresent force in Cuban life, a now weak and infirm Castro retreated from the public spotlight. In 2016, Castro made a rare public appearance to call on Communist Party officials to remain loyal to his revolution after his death.

"Soon I will be like all the rest," Castro told officials.

"Everyone's turn comes."

In Cuba there are few monuments to Fidel Castro. No streets are named after him. Unlike other strongmen, the Cuban leader avoided creating the appearance of a cult of personality.

But Cuban schoolchildren are required to memorize his speeches, revere him as a nationalist hero and, once a year, recreate Castro's triumphant arrival as a young revolutionary to Havana so that, after he is gone, Fidel Castro's influence will endure for generations to come -- Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Havana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: Patrick Oppmann, CNN's dedicated correspondent there in Cuba following this story, we will get back to him.

I do want to read this statement. Again, Fidel Castro, a figure that people either loved or hated. And this is from someone who did revere the former leader. This is from the Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, reading.

"I just talked with President Raul Castro to transmit the solidarity and love for Cuba for the departure of Commander Fidel Castro."

So we are getting reaction, that from Nicolas Maduro. But if you look at the streets of Miami, it is a different picture. People are celebrating the fact that Fidel Castro is dead.

VANIER: Because you can't overstate the influence that Fidel Castro has had over a generation of leaders in Latin America, leaders and political figures. And of course we will be breaking that down, the emotion and the political impact, here on CNN throughout the night. Stay with us. We'll take a short break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:31:22] VANIER, (voice-over): Recapping our breaking news here on CNN. For those of you who are just joining us, former Cuban leader Fidel Castro has died. His life has been shrouded in secrecy for years now as he avoided the public eye more and more as he aged.

HOWELL (voice-over): Rumors of his death have come up every so often, only to be quickly refuted and dispelled. But we can definitely confirm this hour that Fidel Castro has indeed died in Havana, Cuba, again, died at the age of 90 years old.

You cannot tell the story of the 20th century without this controversial leader, again, dead at 90 years old.

VANIER: Even for Cubans who've long since fled their homeland, Fidel Castro and his rule over the country remain charged issues. Our Ed Lavandera sat down with two generations of a Cuban American family to get their take on the Castro regime.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's dinner time for the Garrido family. 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.

[02:35:00]

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)

HOWELL: Ed Lavandera, that.

Let's take these live images again, in Miami, Florida, from our CNN affiliate (INAUDIBLE) at this point. Again, you see people that are standing there in the rain, in fact, people who are celebrating the fact that Fidel Castro has died, many of them in front of the Cuban restaurant called Versailles, again, which is on Miami's Calle Ocho. It is a very important part of Pequena Havana or Little Havana there in Miami.

And Versailles a very important place. I know I have been there when I covered news in Miami. It's a very important meeting place for people to get together to talk politics and, at this hour, they are meeting. It's typically -- Rafael, correct me if I'm wrong -- where people will have cafecitos (ph) together and talk politics. This hour they are coming together to talk about the death of Fidel Castro.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SR. LATIN AFFAIRS EDITOR: It's almost like the heart of Little Havana. It is where people meet to talk about politics, to talk about especially memories that they have from when they lived back in the island, to talk about the latest occurrence that Castro has had, the latest political shift in the United States.

But at the same time, it preserved that Cubanness of the Cuban culture, cafecito (ph), the food, the way of talking, gesticulating with your arms and hands, it's where people felt free to be Cuban in Miami more than anywhere else, not only Miami but the entire United States.

HOWELL: We will continue to follow the situation in Miami, of course.

VANIER: Yes, and around the world. We are bringing you all sides of the story here on CNN. Let's bring in Patrick Oppmann now, our correspondent in Havana, Cuba.

Patrick, what are you hearing?

I know it's the middle of the night.

Are you getting more reactions?

You told us earlier that you had been the one to inform many Cubans. I know you're in the middle of this.

Are they calling you now?

What are you hearing?

OPPMANN: Yes, I'm seeing Cuban friend that I have who have access to Internet, which is a very small slice of the population. (INAUDIBLE) the posts on Facebook. When I got the news and came rushing to our bureau, the streets were empty. (INAUDIBLE) CNN (INAUDIBLE) bureau employees who came a little bit later are now telling me that as they came in, there was a military presence already making itself known on the streets here, something usually you don't see in the middle of the night here.

So there is the beginnings of a reaction. But this is (INAUDIBLE) and I'm constantly surprised by how things just don't occur the way you always expect it would. So I'm watching Cuban television right now and there are old documentaries about Fidel. If you turn on the TV right now in the middle of the night here in

Havana, you wouldn't know by watching the government TV channel, the only news service that most Cubans receive, that Fidel Castro had died.

A few minutes ago I checked the Granma website, the official organ of the Communist Party and it hadn't been updated yet.

So this really speaks to the need for secrecy that the Cuban government, Raul Castro felt. They told me for years that they wanted to be the ones to announce this news. And they were tonight. They were very much concerned because of all these rumors over the years that the news would leak in Miami.

And so very clearly because I have been talking to officials who are fairly high-ranking people and they did not know. This news was kept a family secret, a state secret and that allowed Raul Castro to break the news.

But still, many Cubans do not know about this because it has not been disseminated widely. They will probably wake up tomorrow, many people, to find out about it and only then will we begin to see the beginnings of a reaction, whether it is celebrating, mourning or indifference.

But for so many Cubans, they are only finding out about the news now or maybe hours to come before this monumental piece of information reaches them.

I can guarantee you already looking at the faces of the Cubans that I told tonight, they will forever remember how they learned of the news, this is an event that whether they loved Fidel Castro or hated him, that they will remember it the rest of their lives.

HOWELL: CNN is the network to turn to, obviously, with live coverage from Havana, Cuba. Patrick Oppmann live and on the line, our dedicated correspondent there. Patrick, stand by with us. We'll be coming back to you shortly, I'm sure.

VANIER: Rafael Romo is on the set with us as well.

Rafael, I want to get back with you about something I have heard several times from several of our correspondents, our guests, or people here in Miami.

[02:40:00]

VANIER: The difference between a Fidelista and supporter of Castro?

(CROSSTALK)

ROMO: Well, for example, I have been thinking a lot about some of the revolutionaries who fought alongside Castro and for whatever reason fell apart over the years. And some were with trade and some were assassinated. And for example I was thinking about Hubert Matos (ph), who was one of the original fighters against the regime of Fulgencio Batista in the early 1950s. And because he had disagreement with Castro about what they would do with the government when Castro started going in the direction of Marxism and he didn't want to do so, he was immediately imprisoned and spent 20 years in jail from 1959 to 1979.

After that he was liberated but he ended up living in exile in the United States for a while and then in Costa Rica. That gives you an example of the kind of politics that Castro played. He did not tolerate any difference of ideas, anybody who would tell him we should not be doing this. We should be doing that instead.

I have been thinking also a lot about Camillo sin Fuegos (ph), one of the original revolutionaries as well, who died very mysteriously in a plane crash in 1959. Many people have been wondering all these years whether it was truly an accident or whether there was some sort of foul play there. We will never know.

I have been thinking about -- also about the way that he played international politics. I remember an incident with the Mexican president in the early 2000s where Mexican president Vicente Fox didn't want to have an international conflict by having President George W. Bush and Fidel Castro at the same table.

And so he asked Fidel Castro, you leave early, please, so that I don't have the situation.

Well, Fidel Castro had the phone conversation recorded and after the fact released it to international media just to embarrass the president. That gives you an idea of the kind of politics he played. And he was not shy about having a fellow head of state be put in such a difficult position, as he did with President Vicente Fox in the early 2000s.

HOWELL: This is a figure that -- there are some -- you will hear some response like the president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, some who revered Castro.

But again, when you look at reaction on the streets of Miami, again, this is a figure that many people hated. And we are looking at these live images right now of people dancing, people celebrating in the streets as they hear this news that Fidel Castro died at the age of 90 years old.

Stand by, our viewers here in the United States and around the world. CNN will continue to bring you the very latest on this breaking news -- right after the break.

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[02:45:00]

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HOWELL: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and around the world, 45 minutes past the hour, past 2:00 am on the East Coast and CNN is following the breaking news, Fidel Castro dead at the age of 90 years old.

And the images you see from CNN affiliate WSVN in Little Havana, where people are celebrating in the streets. There's rain coming down. But this is a meeting place where people come together to talk politics outside the famous Versailles restaurant there in Little Havana.

And this is the scene. Many people are excited. Many people are relieved. Many people are thrilled to hear this news that the Cuban leader, the former Cuban leader, has died at 90 years old.

Just to give a little background on Fidel Castro, born August 13th, 1926, in Cuba, he led the Cuban revolution in 1959, turning the island nation into the first Communist regime in the Western Hemisphere.

Castro rules Cuba for nearly 50 years, some 49 years, I believe, as the prime minister and then the president of that nation. He was known for his cigars, he was known for his fiery speeches and he brought social reforms to Cuba but has been widely criticized for oppressing the people there.

Many people at this time are just excited to have cellphones and wi- fi.

VANIER: Let's bring in now CNN contributor Carlos Alberto Montanero (ph). He joins us now from Miami.

Carlos, we have been looking for about half an hour now at the pictures of what's been going on in the streets of Miami. We've been seeing specifically pictures from Little Havana.

Can you tell us what you saw and what you heard?

CARLOS ALBERTO MONTANERO (PH), CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's a lot of people very happy with what happened in Havana. I saw him many years ago, I saw him (INAUDIBLE) something similar, when Franco disappeared; many people started drinking champagne.

And well, in Miami, this is the same type of reaction.

HOWELL: Carlos, as you see these images, just give our viewers around the world some context about where this is happening and why it is so significant for many of these families of exiles, for many of the people there to gather at this location, outside of Versailles restaurant.

MONTANERO (PH): Well, the restaurant is a place that became the most iconic place for the Cubans to gather and to have -- they opened until 3:00, 4:00 in the morning. And that the reason why it is very important for the Cubans and also is a very big plaza.

And there's a -- usually there's a lot of people there protesting; in this case, manifesting their happiness about what happened in Cuba because Fidel Castro was not just the leader of the revolution or of the dictatorship. He was also a permanent figure in the minds of the Cubans inside and outside the island. And that's a very important -- what happened, even though that he is

90 years old, even though that he -- everybody was waiting for this news from things many years ago.

Anyway, this is very important news for the Cuban society. And now Raul Castro has the opportunity to, if he wants to transform the society, if he wants to change the society in a faster way, he has -- now he has the opportunity to do it.

This is not the end of an era. This is just the end, the logical end, of the dictator. But the era and the revolution and the government is still in the same hands of these same people that made the revolution close to 60 years ago.

VANIER: Carlos, if I can get you to talk a little bit more about that.

What do you foresee for Cuba now?

MONTANERO (PH): It is very interesting because at the same time you have a change the government in the United States.

[02:50:00]

MONTANERO (PH): And the disappearance of either Castro in Cuba and you have two possibilities. One is that because the Trump factor could affect the way Cuban government will behave or -- and they may try to be even more a closed society because they feel they are in danger with the enemy, that's something that could happen.

Or it could happen in the other way, that Raul Castro, without the weight of Fidel Castro, could change the course of the revolution and could try to find a way to have a better relation with the United States and, at the same time, trying to open the society to more political parties and to democracy and to the human rights, to protect or to permit (INAUDIBLE) protect or permit human rights in Cuba.

You can expect one of those. It's very difficult to say what will do for Raul Castro but he has the opportunity to close more the society or to open more. But what I don't expect is that he will not do anything. This is something I would not expect. He will do something, against the democracy or for the democracy. But he will not maintain the (INAUDIBLE) in the next few months.

VANIER: All right, thank you very much, Carlos Montanero (ph). We understand you are saying that there isn't, in your view, going to be a status quo in Havana. You think that it will change one way or another. We are of course going to stay across this story. Thank you very much for speaking to us tonight, Mr. Montanero (ph).

HOWELL: Let's now bring in Armando Salguero, he is a columnist with the "Miami Herald" and has been with us throughout the last several hours to discuss the death of Fidel Castro.

Armando, I want to ask you this question. As again, we are seeing these images of people jubilant, just celebrating on the streets in Little Havana, I want to ask you, what are your feelings and your thoughts, given uncertainty now?

So there were improved relations under President Barack Obama; with President-Elect Donald Trump he may take a difference approach toward Cuba.

And with this news now of Castro's death, how do you see these things coming together?

ARMANDO SALGUERO, "MIAMI HERALD": Well, I hate to tell you but I'm a little bit pessimistic. And I understand what your previous guest said, that Raul Castro will, you know, move one way or the other but he will not remain at the status quo.

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree. At the end of the day, Raul Castro is a Castro and he has been in power for 10 years. It's not like this giant weight has been lifted off of him. He was more than free to dial back or go forward at his whim basically for the last 10 years and he did none of those things.

What I believe is going to happen is that they are going to entrench themselves. And they are going to stay the course and they are going to decide that it's not their move. It's the move of the next incoming American government.

Let's not mistake the death of Fidel Castro with a new day in Cuba. The government that has been in power for 10 years is Raul Castro's government. They remain -- there's a new government coming in to the United States. And so there's where the dynamic may change one way or the other.

But remember, even as Barack Obama stretched out his hand to Cuba and opened things up a little bit and so forth with executive orders, it was often Raul Castro who pushed back and said, well, they are moving toward us. We remain firm where we are.

And that's notable because, even in the face of friendship from President Obama, the stance of the Cuban government was, we will remain status quo. And I don't know -- if you study history, I mean, I guess there are some dictatorships that bow out gracefully and decide, OK, you have us. We are just going to take a break. We have had a good run. See you later.

VANIER: But, Armando, if I can just pitch in there, what is interesting about the timing of this, if I can put it that way, is that Raul Castro himself is in a position, at a juncture, where he is --

[02:55:00]

VANIER: -- preparing his succession.

So do you think that this might influence things and his plans for that succession in any way?

SALGUERO: I don't know enough about his plans. In fact, I don't think any of us do, to speculate with any intelligence as to whether he will pick different people now or he is going to change or alter the direction of his, you know, next successor.

I will say this, my guess -- and you are watching, you know, your coverage of the streets of Miami and the folks that are celebrating and your correspondent in Cuba, who's reporting that nothing is going on, except perhaps, you know, the rolling of military, those -- you know, that's a contrast. That's a wonderful contrast of freedom and repression.

On the one hand, you have got free people doing their will and celebrating whatever they want. On the other hand, I would not be surprised if you see the government deciding there's going to be no movement in the city of Havana.

There's going to be no -- you know, no insurgency in the country of Cuba just because Fidel Castro has died.

HOWELL: Armando Salguero on the phone with us, a columnist with the "Miami Herald," Armando, thank you so much for being with us and lending your voice to this breaking news. We'll come back to you, if you are able, or if we have time in the coming hours, as we will be covering this for some time.

Again, for our viewers around the world and in the United States, the former Cuban leader, Fidel Castro, dead at the age of 90 years old.

What you see right here, celebrations in the streets of Little Havana in Miami, as people celebrate the news of his death. And as a columnist just pointed out in Cuba, people are still just learning the news. In fact, some just learned it from our correspondent there. CNN will stay on top of this. We will be back after the break.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

HOWELL: One minute before the top of the hour, 3:00 am on the U.S. East Coast. And welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. CNN is following the breaking news this hour of the death of the former leader of Cuba, Fidel Castro, who died in Havana. He was 90 years old when he died.

VANIER: And for years, he had been out of the public eye. His brother, the current Cuban president, Raul Castro, made the announcement on Cuban television. Here it is.