Residents of Havana were just beginning to digest the news of the former leader's death with their morning coffee
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With the sun rise over Havana, with it dawns a new era for Cuba. The most visible sign of change were flags flying at half-mast in tribute to the former leader. Residents of the capital were just beginning to digest the news with their morning coffee.
“And so the historic leader of the revolution has just died. That’s world-level news, and you’ve got to see now what happens,” Yandi Gonzalez from Havana told a reporter. “I think nothing will change.They’ve been preparing for this for many years.”
For government worker Julio Hernandez, he saw Fidel as “a father at least for my generation. He taught us a lot, to study, how to be in solidarity, how to be a humanitarian, and an internationalist.”
Julia Martinez Castaneda, another government worker recalls the moment she heard the news:
“The phone rang, and a friend, her name is Belinda, said, ‘turn on the television, the boss has died!’ ‘What do you mean the boss died?’ ‘Even though he wasn’t the current president of the Cuban Government, we always called him ‘the Boss.’”
The reactions reveal a generational divide in Cuba, for those who grew up in the nation under his control, they are marking the passing of a legendary figure, for better or for worse, while for the younger generation, he is already history.