SXMElections.com

MATANZAS, Cuba — When the motorcade carrying Fidel Castro’s ashes approached this northern shore town’s Freedom Plaza on Wednesday, the crowd lining the sidewalks, benches, rooftops, balconies and even window bars started to chant his name.

“Yo soy Fidel!” (“I am Fidel!”), hundreds of people shouted in Spanish. “Viva Fidel!” (“Long live Fidel”).

Some carried Cuban flags, many held smartphones to record the moment, and a few cried. And within a moment, the caravan disappeared along the street where thousands of Cubans waited for a glimpse of the urn that held Castro’s ashes, to tell him goodbye.

“I have a lump on my throat,” said Juana Inelda Fernandez after she saw him pass in the motorcade, that included a police escort, a military vehicle and a truck pulling a trailer.

Crowds gathered Wednesday, the first of three days along the roads the motorcade is traveling from Havana to Santiago de Cuba to deliver the former president’s remains to his final resting place. The caravan, which left Havana early Wednesday, is traveling the route Castro followed to reach Havana in January 1959 in his successful rebellion, known as the Caravana de la Libertad, or Freedom Caravan.

Castro’s ashes are scheduled to reach Santiago on Saturday, when a public tribute will be held before a private funeral Sunday.

Fernandez, 65, said she came to Matanzas, the capital of the province with the same name along the Bay of Matanzas, after walking half an hour. She made the trip after checking with her doctor earlier who is treating her for cancer, which appears to be in remission. She said her father, who worked harvesting sugar cane with a machete, admired Castro.

“Take care of him, because like that one, no other is coming,” she said her father used to tell her.

Fernandez, who was 9 when Castro launched his revolution, said that as a child she lived with only a change of clothing and a pair of shoes. The school was small and precarious and there weren’t many hospitals. After Castro won, she said, her father’s pay improved, and the school got improvements. Her daughter is now an engineer.

On Wednesday, she remembered her father, who died five years ago.

“If he learned about this, I’m sure he would cry,” she said.

The image offered by Cubans mourning Castro this week is different from the Communist ruler criticized by others who point to human rights violations, loss of freedoms and the dictatorship he created during his tenure.

Unlike those critics, Tamara Olivera’s eyes water when she says that, thanks to Fidel Castro, she was able to attend college.

“It marked my whole life,” she said.

Olivera, 70, said her older siblings couldn’t do the same because her parents couldn’t afford it. Her two brothers became a carpenter and a watch repairman. Her sisters became housewives.

Olivera said when Castro arrived in Matanzas in 1959 during his Freedom Caravan, she was in the same square as she was Wednesday to view his remains. All those years ago, it was getting dark when he approached. The radio station had announced he was on his way.

“People were touching him, to know if it was real,” said Iluminada Curbelo, 68, who sat near Olivera.

During his stop, Castro got out of a truck and went to a balcony overlooking what was then the Government Palace to give a speech, Olivera says. That balcony is now marked with a star to commemorate the event.

Olivera doesn’t remember what Castro said, but she remembered the square was so crowded people couldn’t move.

“People were happy. They had gone through a lot with the previous regime,” Curbelo said, noting that the Batista government tortured and killed.

Olivera said she believes Castro delivered most of what he promised. If he made mistakes, she said, it was due to inexperience, not on purpose.

She doesn’t consider the country’s current economic situation, where the average salary is about $20 a month, as bad. She has a pension of 270 Cuban pesos, or about $9 a month.

“We went through so much need and misery in the other system that maybe that’s why one values what we have as much,” she said.

Reinaldo Rodriguez, 65, also remembered Castro’s arrival in Matanzas in 1959. He was 8. His parents had a little piece of land they used for a small herd of cattle. If Castro hadn’t come to power, he said, he would still be on that land. Instead, he became an engineer.

Antonio Gonzalez, 26, said he was shocked when he learned the news about Castro’s death. He was watching TV with friends.

“We knew he had to die, but we weren’t ready,” he said.

Gonzalez, who is studying to be an English teacher, said Castro’s ashes may help with closure for people who still haven’t processed his death.

“It’s one thing to know it and another one to digest it,” he said.