Adiós Fidel: Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro was cremated yesterday at the beginning of nine days of official mourning. His ashes will be taken on a grand farewell tour of the country before he is buried at Santiago de Cuba, where his revolution began.

On hearing the news of Castro’s death, thousands of people stepped into the streets and celebrated in Miami’s Little Havana, where refugees from Castro’s Cuba first settled in the US. His death was met with mixed reaction in Cuba, where the elderly mourned the only leader they had known their entire lives, and the younger nightclub set was less moved. The NY Times report from Havana said, “All over this city on Saturday, indifference and relief stood side by side with sorrow and surprise as the conflicts that characterized Fidel Castro in life continued to reverberate after his death.”

Rum and Coca Cola: With the death of Castro in Cuba and the change of presidents in the US, the future of Cuban relations with America is thrown into doubt once again.

President Obama, who re-established relations with Cuba, said in a statement, “The Cuban people must know that they have a friend and partner in the United States of America.”

President-elect Donald Trump crowed via Twitter, “Fidel Castro is dead!” He later said in a statement, “Though the tragedies, deaths and pain caused by Fidel Castro cannot be erased, our administration will do all it can to ensure the Cuban people can finally begin their journey toward prosperity and liberty.” He didn’t say whether he would roll back the improved relations of the Obama presidency.

Once a Cold War ogre who threatened American security, Fidel and his revolution have been glamorized in recent years by a new generation unaware of what a harsh ruler he was. Castro was a brilliant man, a durable politician who attempted a grand social experiment that resulted in one of the most educated yet impoverished populations in the world. Along the way he jailed and killed his dissenters.

The American economic blockade has played an enormous part in the failure of Castro’s dream. Denied the industrial equipment and raw materials of a modern economy, Cuba has limped along, unable to pay its workers a living wage or move into the technological future.  Cuba has an enormous oil reserve it can’t tap because it is denied drilling equipment.

Over the years, Fidel watched the needle of American politics swing from liberal to conservative and back. The Us government drew closer, then drew back through one presidency after another. The US staged an invasion at the Bay of Pigs, and tried to assassinate Castro. Fidel remained the same, refusing to give up his revolution to shake off the US embargo while his giant adversary moved through the decades in perpetual turmoil over what to do about Cuba. He must have thought Americans were crazy.

Ree-Count: The Hillary Clinton Campaign announced that it will join the recount effort begun in Wisconsin by Green Party Candidate Jill Stein, as well as potential recounts in Michigan and Wisconsin. Clinton lost the three states by a combined total of about 100,000 votes, costing her the required 270 Electoral College votes.

Donald Trump, who campaigned for weeks claiming the election would be rigged, called the recount a “scam.” He said, “The results of this election should be respected instead of being challenged and abused, which is exactly what Jill Stein is doing.”

Nation: One person is dead overnight and nine wounded in a shooting in the New Orleans French Quarter.

Chew Your Food: Bei Bei, the Giant Panda cub at the Smithsonian National Zoo, is reported to be recovering well from emergency bowel surgery. The bear just wasn’t doing well, and on further examination was found to have a lemon-sized clog of bamboo in his system.

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