Flora Lorenzo, 84, lives in Hialeah, Florida, with her grandson, Brian David Ramos, 17, whom she helped to raise.

Lorenzo told BuzzFeed News that she left Cuba in 1974 "because of the oppression, the discrimination, and the mistreatment."

When 17-year-old Ramos heard of Fidel Castro's death around 1 a.m. local time on Saturday, he did not wait to share the news with his grandma, whom he calls 'Ita,' a shortening of the common Spanish term for grandmothers, 'abuelita.'

He pulled out his phone, began recording, and burst into her bedroom.