SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba – A Russian jeep pulled the trailer carrying a coffin under a glass box, where Cuban officials say they are keeping Fidel Castro's ashes. Those who lined up to wait for the caravan paid their respects with flags and sometimes tears.
The trailer's seven vehicle caravan left Havana's Plaza of the Revolution and made it to a memorial in honor of Ernesto "Che" Guevara in Santa Clara on Wednesday and to Camaguey on Thursday.
About 5:40 p.m., Castro's cortege was leaving Cacocum en route to Cauto Cristo on the Carretera Central. They planned on spending Friday night at the museum Ñico López, in Granma.
The funeral procession's four-day journey across the island was set to end in Santiago de Cuba, where a funeral will be held on Sunday.
The Cuban government enforced nine days of mourning on the island and Cuban media was devoted to remembering Castro as a hero whose ideas will live long after his death. But not everyone in the island believes that.
The Cuban American National Foundation released a statement on Friday denouncing "oppression, violence and overt surveillance" of dissidents. Some of the punishments for not partaking on the nine days of mourning included "beatings, detentions, threats and suspensions from employment," according to the CANF.
CANF spokesman Adolfo Fernandez cites the cases of Eduardo Pacheco Ortiz, who was reportedly arrested Nov. 28 in Matanzas, and Leandro Miguel Hernandez Ferreira, who was arrested Nov. 26 in Havana.
