CUBANS had nine days to mourn Fidel Castro, who died in November 2016. After a state funeral, soldiers escorted his ashes from Havana to Santiago, retracing the route taken by the revolutionary army he led. When someone less important dies, undertakers have to hurry up. Just two funeral homes have refrigeration, and that is reserved for foreigners and VIPs. Because of Cuba’s searing heat, most folk have to be in the ground within 24 hours. Cuba’s nine crematoriums handle a tenth of the 99,000 people who die each year.
Funerals, like education and health care, are free in the socialist state (though cremation costs money). Cubans pay in other ways. Coffins, made by the state-owned forestry company, are flimsy. Pallbearers must carry them with extreme care, lest they fall apart. Government workers get better coffins; children are buried in white ones. With flowers in short supply, mourners make wreaths from twigs and leaves. That horrifies...Continue reading
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