Alan Gomez

USA TODAY

SANTIAGO DE CUBA – The moment so many in Cuba had dreaded and so many in the U.S. had prayed for finally arrived Sunday when Fidel Castro's ashes were interred in this eastern city where he started his communist revolution.

Cubans expected to see the final ceremony on state television, but they awoke to replays of memorials from the previous week. It was unclear whether the broadcast failed or if Cuban officials decided at the last moment to cut it off.

Castro’s remains were laid to rest early Sunday, after his death Nov. 25 at age 90. His ashes reside next to a monument to Cuba’s original freedom fighter, José Martí, and just a few blocks from the plaza where Castro declared victory for his revolution on Jan. 1, 1959.

During Sunday's private ceremony, President Raúl Castro placed the box with his older brother's ashes into a large, plain stone that will serve as his crypt, according to clips on state TV shown later in the afternoon. The box was covered with a black plaque engraved simply with "Fidel" — no last name, no dates, the only marking on his grave.

Raúl stepped back, saluted and said his final farewell.

People had lined the streets one last time to watch Fidel Castro's ashes roll toward Santa Ifigenia Cemetery. The same green military truck pulled the ashes, with the men inside wearing white dress uniforms rather than the simple green fatigues they wore the past week.

A 21-gun salute sounded as they entered the cemetery.

Even though Castro's image is ubiquitous throughout Cuba — plastered on murals and billboards, hanging in homes, classrooms and offices — the longtime leader had requested no statues or monuments in his memory and no parks or streets named for him after his death, Raúl said Saturday.

Sunday's interment completed an emotional, conflicted nine-day period where Cubans lamented the loss of their revolutionary icon, and Cuban-Americans 90 miles away in Florida celebrated the long-awaited death of the dictator who forced them into life-long exile.

As Cubans packed plazas to hear speeches memorializing Castro in Havana and Santiago de Cuba, Cuban-Americans in Miami toasted with bottles of champagne set aside long ago for the moment. Millions of Cubans lined the streets to view Castro’s ashes during a four-day funeral procession through the country, while Cuban-Americans danced in South Florida, clanging pots and waving signs hailing the death of the man who upended their lives.

Decades after Castro’s revolution, many Cubans still struggling

Castro’s death comes at an uncertain time for the communist nation, which started a series of economic reforms after Raúl Castro took control when Fidel fell ill in 2006. For the first time, the younger Castro, 85, has allowed Cubans to buy and sell their homes and cars, own computers and cellphones, expanded Internet access to the isolated citizens and expanded a growing class of private entrepreneurs who now number more than 500,000.

What hasn’t changed is the intensity of the regime’s political persecution against dissidents and civil rights activists who continue speaking out against one-party rule and demanding free and fair elections. Through October, the Cuban government had made 9,215 political arrests, higher than any annual total since at least 2010, according to the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation.

Castro’s death also comes as the island’s diplomatic opening with the U.S. hangs in the balance. President Obama and Raúl Castro ended five decades of isolation when they announced the Cold War foes would re-establish diplomatic relations on Dec. 17, 2014. Since then, the two countries have reopened embassies in Washington and Havana, more Americans have traveled to the island, and U.S. companies have inked a variety of deals with Cuba, including airlines, cellphone carriers and other tourism operators.

Cubans hold final memorial for Castro in city where revolution started

But President-elect Donald Trump vowed during his campaign to cut off that opening, saying Cuba needs to make more changes to its political system and treatment of dissidents before the U.S. rewards the island nation with increased trade and travel.

Any political conflict with the U.S., however, was not the primary focus for Cubans mourning their adored leader.

Rafael Dominguez, 77, woke at 4 a.m. Sunday to watch the funeral. He and his daughter, Yamile Dominguez, placed a Cuban flag on the front of their home. Dominguez, who has been renting rooms in his house to tourists for a year, was disappointed the service wasn't broadcast live but said the tributes brought back many fond memories.

"The more you see, the more you remember," he said.

Contributing: Maria Perez, Naples Daily News