castro funeral
© Carlos Barria / Reuters People watch the cortege carrying the ashes of Cuba's former President Fidel Castro drive toward Santa Ifigenia cemetery in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, December 4, 2016.
Nine days of mourning and a four-day procession across the country ended on Sunday in eastern Cuba, as Fidel Castro was laid to rest next to the country's independence hero Jose Marti.

Crowds shouting "Viva Fidel!" and "I am Fidel!" lined the streets of Santiago, Cuba's second-biggest city, as a camouflage-green hearse made its way to Santa Ifigenia cemetery, the resting place of numerous national figures, where a tomb had been secretly constructed during the past months.

A 21-gun salute was fired, as the ashes, clad in a coffin wrapped in the country's flag, disappeared beyond the gates of the cemetery. The ceremony was not televised, and journalists were not allowed inside.

The 500-mile journey from Havana, where the man who led his country for 49 years died on November 25, was a reverse of his 1959 march on Havana that ended with Castro assuming control of the island. Every aspect of the procession, including the night the hearse spent outside the mausoleum of Che Guevara, had reportedly been planned by Fidel himself before his death at the age of 90.
Castro funeral
© Ronaldo Schemidt / AFP The urn with the ashes of Cuban leader Fidel Castro leaves Revolution Square in Santiago, Cuba on December 4, 2016 on its way to the cemetery.
The public display of mourning culminated on Saturday night, when his brother, 85-year-old Raul Castro, delivered a speech on a square in Santiago packed with tens of thousands of Cubans, many of whom were crying.
castro funeral
© Carlos Garcia Rawlins / Reuters A woman reacts after watching the cortege carrying the ashes of Cuba's former President Fidel Castro drive past toward Santa Ifigenia cemetery in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, December 4, 2016.
"This is the unconquered Fidel who calls us with his example," said Castro, who assumed full control of Cuba in 2008, following a series of medical setbacks for his brother. "We will overcome any obstacle, turmoil or threat in the building of socialism in Cuba," he said.
castro funeral
© Carlos Barria / Reuters Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (L) waves a Cuban flag as Cuban President Raul Castro speaks during a tribute to former Cuban leader Fidel Castro in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, December 3, 2016.
An assembly of current and former world leaders, including Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro, Bolivia's Evo Morales, Jacob Zuma of South Africa, and Dilma Rousseff and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the ex-presidents of Brazil looked on, or addressed the crowd.
castro funeral
© Carlos Barria / Reuters Cuban President Raul Castro speaks at a tribute to his brother and late former Cuban leader Fidel Castro in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, December 3, 2016.
Raul Castro announced that, since "the leader of the revolution strongly opposed any manifestation of cult of personality," no places would be named after Fidel, and no monuments erected to him.

Castro funeral
© Carlos Barria / Reuters Former Brazilian Presidents Dilma Rousseff (L) and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (R) stand with Cuban President Raul Castro (2nd from R) as they attend a tribute in honor of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba.