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BRICS leaders mourn death of Cuban icon Fidel Castro
November 26, 2016, 7:38 am

Earlier this year, Castro wrote to US President Barack Obama recounting the history of US aggression against Cuba [Xinhua]

Earlier this year, Castro wrote to US President Barack Obama recounting the history of US aggression against Cuba [Xinhua]

Cuba’s revolutionary leader and global icon Fidel Castro has died at the age of 90, his brother and President Raul Castro announced on state television. This marks the end of an era for Cuba and Latin America.

“The commander-in-chief of the Cuban revolution died at 10.29pm tonight,” Raul said.

World leaders reacted to the news with condolences and tributes.

Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Castro as the ‘symbol of an era’.

“The name of this remarkable statesman is rightfully viewed as a symbol of a whole era in modern history… Free and independent Cuba built by him and his fellow revolutionaries has become an influential member of the international community and serves as an inspiring example for many countries and peoples,” Putin said in a message to President Raul Castro on Saturday.

South African President Jacob Zuma said Fidel Castro had “dedicated his entire life not only to the freedom of the Cuban people but also the freedom of other oppressed people around the world”.

“President Castro identified with our struggle against apartheid,” Zuma said in a statement.

Pretoria will “pay homage to the memory of President Castro” by “maintaining and nurturing the strong bonds of solidarity and friendship” with Cuba, Zuma added.

President Castro had sent soldiers to Angola during the 1970s and 1980s to fight the apartheid South African military’s invasion in neighbouring Angola. This was a significant catalyst to the eventual ending of apartheid in South Africa.

“We come here with a sense of the great debt that is owed the people of Cuba … What other country can point to a record of greater selflessness than Cuba has displayed in its relations to Africa?” former President Nelson Mandela said during a Havana visit in 1991.

Havana’s communist government has had close historic ties with all five BRICS countries.

On Saturday, Indian leaders including the President and the Prime Minister tweeted to mourn the death of Fidel.

Fidel Castro (centre) seen here with former Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru [Image: Nehru Memorial]

Fidel Castro (centre) seen here with former Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru [Image: Nehru Memorial]

Castro led Cuba for decades before handing power to his brother in 2008.

Earlier this year in March, a week after US President’s Obama’s trip, Castro wrote a sternly worded letter admonishing Obama to read up on Cuban history, and declaring that “we don’t need the empire to give us anything.”

Castro criticised Obama for asking the Latin American country to forget “a ruthless blockade that has now lasted for almost 60 years,”, the 1961 Bay of Pigs attack and the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner by anti-Castro exiles which killed 73 people.

A revolution led by Fidel Castro had been victorious in toppling US-backed strongman Fulgencio Batista in 1959.

 

TBP