Yo Soy Fidel : Caravane mortuaire de Fidel Castro, 2016
“Yo Soy Fidel, with these words, the Cubans lined up along the route of Fidel Castro’s funeral caravan to welcome him for a last homage. From Havana to Santiago, Fidel’s funeral urn took the famous road of the 1959 Freedom Caravan for a last stand of honor. Being at the heart of this historical moment allowed me to see the fervor of some Cubans towards the “Lider Maximo” but also the non-event that it was for others. This last crowd-swimming of the leader of the Cuban revolution was a mixture of emotions and cathartic staging. Everything was organized to the last millimeter by the Castro regime and a large number of Cubans were reminded of their duty as citizens and obliged to pay a last tribute to Fidel. Buildings along the roads were repainted in a hurry, schoolchildren and military students were put in the front row as well as veterans, grass was cut with a machete on the roadsides, stones were filled with writings in honor of Castro, crowds were compacted, all under the watchful eye of the military police. ”
Pierre-Elie de Pibrac
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