Jacob Zuma, the South African president, praised Castro for inspiring Nelson Mandela and others fighting for freedom in the African nation.

"President Castro identified with our struggle against apartheid,” he said. “He inspired the Cuban people to join us in our own struggle. As a way of paying homage to the memory of President Castro, the strong bonds of solidarity, cooperation and friendship that exist between South Africa and Cuba must be maintained and nurtured.”

However, it was across Latin America that the 90-year-old's death was greeted with the most sadness. The Leftist alliance which lionised Castro may have weakened in the past – with the left wing leaders of Argentina, Brazil and Peru no longer in power – but he could always count on the unfailing loyalty of Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela and Nicaragua.

“A great one has gone. Fidel has died. Viva Cuba! Viva Latin America!” tweeted Rafael Correa, president of Ecuador, yesterday. In Bolivia, where Ernesto "Che" Guevara died in 1967 in a failed bid to export Cuba's revolution, President Evo Morales said in a statement: "Fidel Castro left us a legacy of having fought for the integration of the world's peoples.

“The departure of Comandante Fidel Castro really hurts." But it is Venezuela - teetering towards becoming a failed state - which perhaps most illustrates the end of the leftist dream. Nicolas Maduro, like his predecessor Hugo Chavez, idolised Castro. Like Castro, he has been unable to hold back the forces of globalisation - but unlike Castro, he will continue to fight.

"It is up to us to continue his legacy and carry his flag of independence," he said. "Fidel and Chavez built the Boliviarian Alliance, Petrocaribe and took our people down the path of liberation. History will absolve them."

A revolutionary life

He was demonised by the United States and its allies but admired by many leftists around the world, especially socialist revolutionaries in Latin America and Africa.

Transforming Cuba from a playground for rich Americans into a symbol of resistance to Washington, Castro outlasted nine U.S. presidents in power.

He fended off a CIA-backed invasion at the Bay of Pigs in 1961 as well as countless assassination attempts.

His alliance with Moscow helped trigger the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, a 13-day showdown with the United States that brought the world the closest it has been to nuclear war.

Wearing green military fatigues and chomping on cigars for many of his years in power, Castro was famous for long, fist-pounding speeches filled with blistering rhetoric, often aimed at the United States.