His Havana ceremony started at 7pm Tues night. I watched it on Cuban national tv in my room. I had visited Revolution Plaza when in Havana & now it looked a bit different as 100k plus packed the main park. It was supposedly real difficult for any regular locals to get in the massive square bc of reserved sections for people (family, friends, government, military, VIPs, etc). One side was entirely blocked off for security, police & transport for dignitaries & VIPs. The 4 other main thoroughfares that lead into the park were open to the public. They showed the main boulevard on tv & that was jammed too as far as the lights shined.
The ceremony proceeded w the following speakers:

– Great moving female poet started the ceremony – giving one of her clearly famous poems about Cuba & Fidel bc the crowd knew it – & it was lengthy.

– President of Ecuador

– President of South Africa

– Prime minister of Dominica

– President of El Salvador

– Prime minster of Greece

– President of Argella. Of what?!?! OK, THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR 1.5 HRS & I’m starving. Time for a break & some food.

– ??? (After an hour away filling my belly & having some wine…)

– Qatar rep

– Belarus rep

– Now I’m just so interested to see who is coming next bc this is just absurd. I know for a fact the Mexican president is there as I watched him deplane at Havana airport on the news before the ceremony started. So that’s probably the biggest name I’m aware of that hasn’t yet spoken. Then Raul I’m assuming.

– It’s real interesting bc after every speech ends, the orator approaches Raul w a hug &/or handshake and Raul, to every single one, graciously responds & then turns to introduce him/her to the dude sitting right next to him. Younger guy. Mustache. I have no idea who it is but I do know Raul has said (before Fidel’s passing) that he intended to step down in 2018. They haven’t announced succession plans which isn’t really a shock but this makes me think they’re grooming someone as he’s being introduced to all heads of state.

– President of Bolivia (to biggest cheers I’ve seen & he’s eating it up; he knows how to rile them up; crowd favorite)

– President of Venezuela

– … (I left again. Too antsy. Had to get out.)

– Returned 3.5 hrs into the ceremony just as the closer Raul Castro was being introduced.
I got an email the next day from my Havana casa owner letting me know just how crazy it was (so he heard from folks who attended or tried to attend the ceremony bc he watched from the comfort of his home). Few common folk made the main square. Those that did were lined up at midnight the night before & were there for 24 hours. The crowds supposedly extended far beyond the lights. People couldn’t get close. Took hours to get home. Of course it was worth it to them but my casa owner was issuing me a warning for the Santiago evening ceremony & early morning funeral. He didn’t think I’d be able to get remotely close & suggested it wouldn’t be a good use of time & questioned whether I’d enjoy it. While watching the Havana ceremony, I came to that very same conclusion. Which allows me to avoid one issue… while I was able to secure bus tix the day after his death, I was not so lucky to secure lodging. Not a single hotel room in the city available. I booked a room in a casa via Airbnb which was subsequently canceled by the owner the following day. While over 100 casas were available on Airbnb the day prior, less than 10 on Monday & online reservations were now not working. I used multiple Cuba casa websites to inquire about availability. Nothing. My Havana casa owner has 3 friends w casas. Nothing. His friends decided to block out the rooms & not take clients as they figured the city would be too crazy to host, it frees them up to leave the house & they were also hosting friends & family from other parts of Cuba. Hotels were blocked by govt for VIPs. After giving up Tuesday & not thinking it wise to show up wo accommodations, I have resigned myself to the fact I would probably have to miss it and I’ve accepted it. I feel lucky that I’ve been here & able to talk to locals about it to get their viewpoint. That’s enough for me. And now that I’ve accepted it, I do have to laugh at myself. I was really trying to make it happen. I thought I just had to be there. I never stopped to consider how impossible it’d be to attend a former US President’s funeral & this puts that to shame given the length of his rule, his revolutionary history & his enormous personality.
Add to that the fact that I couldn’t even make it through a ceremony on tv without taking food, drink & bio breaks. There’s no way I could make it through an actual live ceremony. My fave speakers (sarcasm) were those that were non-English speaking foreigners so not only did I have to listen to their original Arabic, Greek, etc but then try to decipher the Spanish translation – so I don’t understand much of what they say even after hearing it twice.
As an aside, while watching the ceremony, I flipped to CNN to see if US media had any access at all or were reporting on it. Nothing. The CNN lead was “Trump wants flag burners to lose citizenship or go to jail.” Seems like nothing’s changed. That moron seriously wants to take away constitutionally protected freedom of speech rights under the first amendment? I thought he was a staunch defender of the constitution? Oh wait. That must only be the 2nd amendment. Some could interpret that as pretty dictatorial. Or he’s just trying to distract from yesterday’s hot topic. I’m not really sure how I’m going to get through the next 4 years.