The revolutionary will be buried alongside other famous Cubans as the country begins nine days of mourning

Fidel Castro’s ashes will be interred at the Santa Ifigenia cemetery in Santiago de Cuba on 4 December, the Cuban government has announced.

As the country began nine days of mourning, huge rallies have been planned in the capital Havana and in the eastern city of Santiago to honor the revolutionary leader.

Alcohol sales were suspended, flags flew at half-mast and shows and concerts were cancelled after his younger brother and successor, Raul Castro, told the country late on Friday night that Fidel had died at 10:29pm.



Large groups took to the streets on Saturday waving flags and chanting “I am Fidel” to salute Castro, who dominated the island’s political life for generations. Newspapers were printed in black ink to mourn Castro, instead of the usual red of the official Communist Party daily Granma, and the blue of Juventud Rebelde (Rebel Youth), the paper of the Communist youth.

There will be no top level games of baseball - Castro’s passion after politics - for the nine-day period of mourning, the sport’s national federation declared.

Cubans will be able to pay homage to Castro at the José Martí memorial in Havana on 28 and 29 November, while a mass rally will be held in the capital on the evening of 29 November.

The next day Castro’s ashes will begin their journey across Cuba, along the route that commemorates his victory in 1959.

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On 4 December, at 7am, his ashes will be interred at the Santa Ifigenia cemetery – the resting place of 19th-century Cuban independence hero José Martí and numerous other leading figures in the country’s history.

One large monument marks the grave of the Bacardi family, which founded a rum empire and dominated local politics in Santiago. Another building pays homage to the military officers and student martyrs who died during the war of independence against Spain in the late 19th century. There is also a veterans’ mausoleum for the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias (Revolutionary Armed Forces). But the dominant feature is the monument to Martí, a marble building that houses a statue of the father of Cuban nationalism looking down over a wooden cask adorned with the Cuban flag.

Several times each day there is a changing of the guard next to this historically charged spot. Three soldiers in ceremonial dress – with white gloves and yellow epaulettes – march in with exaggeratedly high kicks and arms swinging back and forth while the strains of the national anthem ring out from the public address system. Then, once they take their place, there is a moment of silence before the bell tolls to remind visitors of the sacrifices made to achieve sovereignty.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Castro will be buried at the Santa Ifigenia cemetery in southern Cuba. Photograph: Jonathan Watts/the Guardian

There would be a nationalist logic in laying Castro beside Martí. While the latter led the 19th-century struggle against Spanish colonialism, the former took it a step further in the 20th century to rid the island of the shackles of US neo-imperialism. Recent renovations have suggested this is how the government is thinking.

Workers are scrubbing gravestones, new marble has been laid and the main road from the airport and city centre has been upgraded.

Cleaners say they have heard the rumours that Castro will be buried here but nobody has told them why they have been employed to buff up the tombstones.

“People in town talk about it, but nobody has said anything here. If it happens, it happens. I guess only our top leaders and the secret service know where he will be buried,” said one elderly worker, whose hands are white from dust as he sands down a new row of marble gravestones. “We started a year ago. Everyone says we have to do a nice job so we can leave this as a heritage site.”

He points to a domed mausoleum nearby and says it is being built for Castro. “They started it soon after they cleaned up the main avenue here from the city. It all ready, but it will be a terrible day when it is used. Everybody really loves Fidel.”

But there are other spots in the cemetery where the revolutionary leader could be buried. A 100 by 15-metre area of grass between the Martí memorial and the monument to the revolutionary war dead would make a fitting resting place for a figure who led the guerrilla insurgency that made the island truly independent. It is bordered by red Matou Rojo flowers, which are said to represent the blood of those who gave their life for the country.

Other areas of the graveyard are clearly less important. As in life, there is a hierarchy in death that places the tombs of the rich and powerful near the entrance, with the smaller gravestones of the middle class further in marked with just a marble angel or a stone tablet, and then at the far end several honeycomb-like 21 by nine blocks of simply scrawled names that sit close to the sewage drains.

Famed for an austere lifestyle and dedication to equality, Castro’s socialist ideology might place him here, but locals believe he would need a more prestigious position in the cemetery not because of his individual views but because of his symbolism to the country.

“It’s difficult for people to talk about, but there is gossip in the city,” says a guide. “The theory is that he will be buried close to José Martí because he took on so many of his ideas during his life,” said the guide.

The chatter intensified a couple of years ago when the authorities completely rebuilt the main roads from the city to the cemetery. As well as new asphalt, the central partition has newly planted flowers and neatly trimmed grass.

It runs through the poor 7th January neighbourhood, where more than half a dozen brick houses have been repointed and repainted so their facades look new. It is clearly a cosmetic makeover rather than an upgrade to the entire community. Two blocks back – out of sight of the main road – nothing has been done to hide the crumbling, ramshackle exteriors.

“They came a year ago and did everything,” said local resident Manuel Fui, whose home faces the road to the cemetery. “They repaired the roof and painted the front blue. Nobody explained why.” However, he dismissed rumours that this was being done in preparation for Fidel’s funeral procession as idle gossip.