The mood in Havana

ESTELLE has never been a supporter of Fidel Castro’s Cuban revolution. The poverty, the restrictions on freedom, the false promises—she despises all of it. But when the 78-year-old accountant awoke on November 26th, switched on her radio and learned that the Maximum Leader of the revolution had died overnight, she cried. “Whatever you feel about Fidel, he was always there,” she explained.

 

Estelle’s ambivalence is shared by many Cubans as they begin to get used to life without the man who dominated the country for more than half a century. “He was a good president”, said Yusi, a housewife in Old Havana, but “nobody’s perfect”.

 

The government has banned all public music performances during the nine-day official mourning period, a directive that has enveloped Havana in gloom. A much-heralded concert starring Placido Domingo, an opera singer, has been cancelled. Nightclubs are closed.

 

Unlike leaders of other successful communist revolutions, Mr Castro will not have an embalmed afterlife. The body of the former president was cremated in a private ceremony...Continue reading

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