Death and state funeral of Fidel Castro
Castro in 2003
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| Death date | 25 November 2016 at 22:29 (UTC−05:00) |
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| Cremation date | 26 November 2016 |
| Interment date | 4 December 2016 |
 Raúl Castro's announcement on Fidel Castro's death on YouTube
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Fidel Castro' state funeral on YouTube
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The former President and First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, Fidel Castro died of natural causes at 22:29 (CST) in the evening of 25 November 2016. His brother, current President and First Secretary Raúl Castro, made an announcement about his death on state television. Most foreign government officials praised Castro's achievements while others were more critical of his legacy. Some officials gave more neutral condolences while others issued statements about positive binational relations with Cuba. Castro's body was cremated and his ashes were interred in Santiago de Cuba on 4 December 2016, and hundreds of thousands of Cubans commemorated the event.
In April 2016, Castro told the Communist Party: "I'll be 90 years old soon. Soon, I'll be like all the others. The time will come for all of us, but the ideas of the Cuban communists will remain as proof on this planet that if they are worked at with fervour and dignity, they can produce the material and cultural goods that human beings need, and we need to fight without truce to obtain them." In February 2016, his older brother Ramón died at the age of 91.
Castro's death was expected in South Florida, with media and governments expecting that it would cause chaotic celebrations and regime change plans. The city of Miami had planned to open the Orange Bowl Stadium for celebrations; schools might have dismissed early; and police and government officials might have blocked boat piers to prevent Cuban exiles from trying to invade the island. The Miami Herald created a "Cuba plan" more than 20 years before Castro's death; as much as 60 pages in length, it included multiple newspaper extras and reporters joining the United States Coast Guard as it handled the expected large number of refugees fleeing the island. Its journalists prepared to surreptitiously enter Cuba; employees knew that Castro's death would interrupt any vacation or weekend. After Raúl Castro became the country's leader and visiting Cuba became easier, such plans became less important.
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