object. if you're in the water, swim back to the edge and pull yourself up. once on the lip of the ice, roll away before standing up. >> i think about how lucky we were to get all those people out alive. i didn't want my girls to see somebody drown on christmas day. that's what really drove me to try and help them. good morning, i'm dara brown at msnbc world headquarters in new york with breaking news. former cuban president fidel castro has died at the age of 90. he assumed power in 1959. an alarming event to the u.s. nbc's andrea mitchell has more on the revolutionary leader. >> reporter: to his followerts, he was commandante or just fidel. to his enemies, a feared dictator, one of the world's last communists. the legendary firebrand began life simply.

the illegitimate son of a middle-class land owner. a student radical, he graduated with both a law degree and a doctorate, tried running for the national assembly in 1952 until cuban strongman batista took power and canceled electionings. in 1953 he led a rebel group and failed. castro ended up in jail for two years until an amnesty when he went into exile. in mexico, castro regrouped with his brother, raul, and fellow revolutionary ernesto guavarra. they waged guerrilla war against batist batista's corrupt regime. on new year's day, 1959, they toppled batista and marched into havana. at first the young leader promised democracy, telling the u.s. he was not a communist. >> i came for good relation. >> reporter: "meet the press" in april, 1959. >> i will not agree with

communism. >> reporter: laterally went on the "tonight show" with jack parr. >> i know how many questions you've been asked, and -- >> never mind. you can ask all that you want for the public opinion of the united states about anything you want. >> reporter: almost from the start, castro confiscated the property of the wealthy, silenced newspapers, nationalized u.s. oil refineries, and signed a pact with the soviet union. in 1961, president john f. kennedy ordered the cia to invade cuba at the bay of pigs, using a force of anti-castro exiles. >> at 3:45 p.m. wednesday, april 19th, resistance ends. >> reporter: the resulting debacle only helped castro consolidate power. by then a declared socialist, he dramatically improved health care and literacy but also accepted soviet missiles, bringing the superpowers to the brink of nuclear war. >> requiring a full retaliatory response upon the soviet union.

>> reporter: until jfk's hard-line and back-channel diplomacy got the russians to pull back, for 25 years moscow helped castro arm communist insurgents throughout latin america. with the end of the soviet union, cuba's economy imploded on. makeshift boats, thousands of cubans fled the increasingly repressive regime. >> his legacy is a complicated one. but there's no forgetting how many cubans left the island under duress. >> reporter: in the 1990s, the aging ruler courted u.s. businessmen and american tourists. he showed a new tolerance for religion, welcoming pope john paul ii in 1998. he won friends throughout latin america by exporting cuban-trained doctors and medicine. [ chants ] in 1999, a custody battle over 6-year-old elian gonzalez became the symbol of america's struggle with fidel castro. months later, a federal court ordered the child removed from

miami. ♪ >> reporter: elian returned to his father and a hero's welcome in havana. gradually even the longest ruling dictator began showing signs of age. he collapsed from heat exhaustion in 2001. tripped and broke his knee and arm three years later. the bush administration tightened sanction, cutting off most travel to the island. castro reiated arresting -- retaliated arresting dissidents. oil-rich venezuela became an ally. in the summer of 2006 after undergoing intestinal surgery, fidel castro temporarily turned over power to his brother, raul. on december 2nd of that year, cuba commemorated the 50th anniversary of the revolution and had a delayed celebration of fidel's 80th birthday. an ailing futurecast did not attend the celebrations. two years later he officially stepped down and was succeeded

by his brother. fidel spent his later years writing columns about his life experiences, emerging publicly for pope benedict's visit to havana in 2012. and for vladimir putin and china's president xi in 2014. he never commented on president obama's breakthrough with raul castro to normalize relations. fidel was noticeably absent when his brother welcomed home three cuban spies, heroes in havana, long imprisoned in the united states. to tend, castro inexisted his revolution would outlive him. >> translator: if i die tomorrow morning, there will be no problem here of any sort because there remains a nucleus of old revolutionary leaders who without a doubt have great authority among the people. >> reporter: he never tolerated free elections or dissent but gave his people better health care and education. still, his real legacy may be holding power for nearly half a century -- longer than any other moder leader. nbc news, washington.

to miami now. word of the cuban dictator's death led to overnight celebration that's show no signs of letting up. our nbc affiliate wtvj has more for us. jamie, it's been quite a night there. >> reporter: that's right. seven hours later, and there are still people out here. it's sort of fizzled a little bit now compared to what it was like earlier. i mean, hundreds were out here on main street in little havana, primarily the cuban section for miami right next toer ha cafe. hundreds took to the streets it pots and pans, celebrating. for many it is a symbolic celebration of a man who committed so many atrocities and his death for them is a vindication of his regime over the cuban island. now, i've spoken with a lot of people who told me personally how they were impacted by

castro's regime. some of those people are here with me right now. i know we were speaking earlier before -- you said you were witnessing fire squads when you used to live in cuba. you've been back in the united states how long? >> i've been in the states for about 48 or 49 years. >> tell me, you lived in front of the courthouse, and you witnessed firings -- firing squads. tell us exactly the oppression that this regime created. >> when castro took power the first month he set up firing squads. i happened to live right out front -- across from the courthouse. and every day for months and months and months we had five, ten, 15 people every day that were prosecuted. the trial would only last a couple of hours, and then they would take them in to the military headquarters, maybe six

blocks or seven blocks from my house, and they would just shoot right there. >> reporter: basically a systemic lack of due process and human rights. you were born here. you're a cuban american. what does it mean to be part of history and come out on the main drag and celebration. >> since i was a kid, we've been counting the days. we've been waiting for this. it's like a championship. there's no words for it to describe it. for my grandparents, everything was taken away in cuba, their houses, farms, cars, it was taken away. for them to come here with nothing, make a life, never go back, see cuba freeway, it's not free yet. the man who started it all, he's no longer alive. maybe it gives hope in the future. maybe raul castro will come next pretty quick, you know.

it's something that we want liberty to come to cuba. >> reporter: thank you very much. this i appreciate it. we're running out of time. i want to put this into words. somebody team e told me the equivalent of fidel castro dying for the cuban people here is like man walking on mars or rather on the moon. that's the latest here from little havana, back to you. >> it seems that a lot of people that gather are younger cubans as opposed to the older generation. have you been seeing that? >> reporter: yeah. we saw a wide array-- and older. president obama opened diplomatic relations with cuban. the younger generation approved that. the older generation did not. we saw all of them here, old and young, celebrating the death of futurecast. in one word, they were celebrating freedom. >> jamie, thank you very much, live for us from miami.

let's bring in retired colonel jack jacobs, military analyst. thank you very much for being here. >> good morning. >> colonel, how significant would you say that this news is in the context of our nation's histor history? >> castro hasn't been a factor in the operations of the cuban government for some time. we've been jousting with cuba and castro for almost 60 years. vafk now running the operation, but he's not all that much younger than fidel. yes, his death, fidel's death is certainly will usher in a different era of particularly economic relations. but anyone who thinks the cuban government is going to give up total control of society i think is -- that's more wishful thinking than what is actually going to happen.

having said that, a huge stumbling -- huge stumbling block to better relations in this hemisphere in particular is removed. >> if you would, share with us your recollections from the cuban missile crisis. how was castro perceived at that moment? >> well, i was in college at the time when the cuban missile crisis occurred. we clambered down, hundreds of college students walking pent kennedy talk about there was a great likelihood of a nuclear war between the united states and russia. we were all convinced that we were going to be drafted into the army the next day, we were going to go to cuba and dismantle missiles with screwdrive screwdrivers. we had no real view of what international relations were or how things operated at the time. one thing was significant, however, at the time -- we

viewed, everybody viewed cuba to be a pawn of russia. of course in retrospect, hindsight's always 20/20. it's clear now that it was the other way around. that kruhrushchev was trying to make up for the missile gap between the united states and russia. he tried to use cuba, but all -- by positions missiles in cuba, but all that did was strengthen fidel's hand both in cuba and in the rest -- the rest of the hemisphere. >> jack jacobs, thank you very much for your comments. we'll bring in andrea mitchell. chief foreign affairs correspondent. quite a night. >> reporter: for you, as well. you've been talking all night about fidel castro. and the fact that this moment which we all anticipated given his angel and health has finally arrived. >> and you interviewed him in 2002. and that interview went on until

2:00 a.m. what do you remember about that time with him? >> reporter: there were a number of interviews over the years. we met in 1999. i went to cover the protests against the u.s. during the elian gonzalez crisis. the 6-year-old child who had washed ashore in florida and was the subject of an international tug-of-war, custody fight between his father and family, relatives in florida. and at the time, he was very argumentative, fiercely angry about u.s. foreign policy. at the same time, very interested in all sorts of things. he was very well read. stays up all night reading, on the internet, questioned his staff. i went to a cabinet meeting at about midnight where he had people from all provinces and young people, as well, reporting back to him. he was known to them as the commandante and was just a powerful force. obviously he was the head of a

totalitarian regime. but also the fact that he was a strong, athletic man, a towering figure, and had lasted so long for so many decades, had outlasted ten american presidents with whom he had sparred verbally, and with one as you were pointing out with colonel jack, had a military engagement that led to the blockade and a showdown. we went to the brink of new york war. it was terrifying. i was in high school at the time. i was in high school, and i remember how scary it was. >> the memories are vivid to everybody i've spoken two about the cuban missile crisis time. i imagine the white house and state department have plans on how to handle the death. what can we expect to happen today? >> reporter: i don't think that they quite know what to do.

we're at the stage of a presidential transition. president-elect trump was some months back when he began his campaign praising the communication, the opening that president obama had engineered, and then more recently has taken a much harder line. he's criticized it saying he could have gotten a better deal, that the cubans benefited more than the united states, that he would be a better negotiator. we don't know what he's going to do. he does have the power to cancel executive orders, fairly well entrenched because the treasury department has made moves that make it easier for many american companies to engage can w auto -- engage with cuba in ways they never could before and for americans to travel there much more freely. it's more difficult than a stroke of a pen to roll this back. you've got airlines, postal service. a lot in place. but the full embargo cannot be lifted without an act of congress. and that certainly is within the republican party's control. >> and i want to go back to

castro as the leader. on one hands he was a dictator, but simultaneously he was a beloved leader. what will be his legacy? >> he was beloved to some. a lot of people that cuba, as well, feared him. there were communist party controls, we saw in 2016 when they arrested large numbers of dissidents. that was really a break in my communication with him. he knew that american journalist would ask about the dissents put in squlal. it was between 1999 -- in jail. it was b 1999 and 2006 that i had most communication with him and have gone break at the opening and at the press conference with president obama and raul castro and saw the extraordinary developments of the last three years that were accomplished under president obama's opening. those were criticized, of

course, by many, many cuban americans so he was feared as well as adored in cuba. and if he was popular among many, it was because of the social services. they had so many free services. of course, it wrecked their economy, but they had health care, education, very good education, good health care. the medical school, school of latin america based in havana. there were many american students who went down to study medicine in havana. there were breakthroughs on medicines and all kinds of biotechnical advances. they were beginning to do a lot in areas where they had hoped to export to the united states. they did get an export for the medical advances. >> chief correspondent andrea

mitchell. thank you for your insight into the man on a personal level and to his legacy. appreciate you being here. >> reporter: sure thing. what the death of falk means for the new administration and how relations will change. new reaction from donald trump's florida base in palm beach, up next. per roll more "doing chores for dad" per roll more "earning something you love" per roll bounty is more absorbent, so the roll can last 50% longer than the leading ordinary brand. so you get more "life" per roll. bounty, the quicker picker upper but my back pain was making it hard to sleep and open up on time. then i found aleve pm. the only one to combine a sleep aid plus the 12 hour pain relieving strength of aleve. now i'm back. aleve pm for a better am.

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a new day is dawning in havana, cuba. this is the first morning since the country and the world learned about the death of the country's revolutionary leader, fidel castro. nbc's ron allen is at the white house. ron, good morning. has there been any reaction from the administration on the death of fidel castro? >> reporter: not yet but we're expecting to hear from the president's spokesman. we know that the president's initiative in cuba, his

normalization of relations with cuba that started some two years ago was one of the centerpisces of his foreign policy. something important to his legacy. the question now is how will this happen going forward under a donald trump administration. we know that president-elect trump has said that he wants to reverse a lot of the changes that president obama has initiated. we know that there is still the embargo that bars a lot of financial, commercial business dealings with the island. that's still firmly in place. what the president has done is to issue a series of executive orders, regulatory changes, that have made it possible, for example, for commercial flights to happen, for mail to be delivered, for businesses, american businesses to do more commerce there on the island. you can use credit cards on the island. there are some easings of restrictions, but it's still a communist regime in cuba. there is still the embargo in place, and there's still very serious concerns about political freedoms, human rights abuse, jailing of dissidents. those kinds of concerns, to

still endure. here from the white house, no reaction as of yet. we expect to hear from the white house sometime later today. but again, the main concern here is will the president's initialtivities to engage the cuban -- initiatives to engage the cuban people, to create people-to-people relationships that the president believes will change the political climate there, the political regime there, will that go forward under a donald trump administration? and the answer from the president-elect's camp so far has been that he wants to reverse much of what has happened. the question is, how much of this is reversible. how many of these relationships that are being established now will endure despite a change in policy by a new administration coming here to the white house in january. back to you. >> ron allen at the white house for us. thanks. and there is plenty of reaction around the world to the death of fidel castro. nbc's matt bradley joins us from london. matt, what are you hearing from world leaders? >> reporter: well, of course fidel castro was a hugely polarizing figure during his

nine decade-long life. and american politicians antagonized him for years while leftist leaders and revolutionaries throughout the world idea onized and emulated him. hours after his death, most leaders have set aside any residual antipathy and offered politic praise. he's been largely absent from the political stage since he extend aside about ten years ago. now the russian government today called castro a symbol for an entire era of modern history, and former president of the ussr, mikhail gorbachev, hailed castro as an outstanding politician, outstanding person, and our friend. now russian president vladimir putin said castro is a strong and wise man who always looked in the future with confidence. and mexico's enrique nieto called castro a friend of mexico. further afield, south african president zuma credited castro with helping to defeat apartheid. of course, it was cuban soldiers who dealt south african troops a

major defeat during fighting in angola during the late 1980s. the cuban government has declared nine days of mourning, as you mentioned. castro will be cremated today. his ashes will be interred at a cemetery in santiago de cuba next week. back to you. >> and matt, it's not just the world leaders that have been reacting to the news of castro's death. as we saw in little havana, we see people who have left dhaub are celebrating in the streets. have you heard any word of that happening? >> reporter: well, yes. that's the most poignant reaction. but it's certainly a time of reflection for this towering figure over the 20th century throughout the world. scholars have noted that though he inspired liberation movements especially in latin america and in africa, he exercised what could be considered an oppressive governing hand at home. again, reaction the most vivid being in miami in little havana. but throughout the world, scholars and presidents and revolutionary leaders are celebrating his achievements but also noting some of his majorly

repressive policies. back to you. >> matt bradley in london. thanks. we'll check in with the trump transition team in palm beach for invite in what lies ahead in u.s.-cuba relations. to severe plaque psoriasis, isn't it time to let the real you shine through? introducing otezla (apremilast). otezla is not an injection or a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable after just 4 months, with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. and the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. don't take otezla if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. otezla may increase the risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts, or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. side effects may include diarrhea,

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simulation complete. the new nissan rogue. rogue one: a star wars story. in theaters december 16th. ♪ welcome back. i'm dara brown here at msnbc world headquarters in new york. at the half hour, here's what we're monitoring -- former cuban president fidel castro is dead at the age of 90. he overthrew the u.s.-backed government in 1959 and turned the island nation into a communist state and engaged in a cold war with the u.s. no cause of death has been given. he's been in failing health for many years. the cuban government has declared nine days of national mourning culminating with a funeral next sunday. nbc's kristin welker is covering the president-elect during his holiday weekend in palm beach, florida. good morning to you. what are we hearing from elected officials, particularly those

who criticized president obama for re-establishing diplomatic tiesith cuba? >> reporter: good morning to you. retion is just starting to trickle in. we haven't gotten reaction from president-elect trump yet, but we anticipate we will by the end of the day. he's on a working vacation in palm beach. of course, we're waiting to hear what senator marco rubio has to say, for example. he's been very critical of president obama. we have gotten reaction from congressman ileana ros-lehtinen. she was born in cuba. she's also critical of the obama policies, of the castro regime. let me read a statement that she put out, she said, "a tyrant is dead, and a new beginning can dawn. on the last remaining communist bastion of the western hemisphere. not until the gulags are closed, political prisoners are freed, and liberty is restored can the united states fully end its embargo against the communist regime in havana. the time to act is now." so some strong words there from the congresswoman. and again, we are monitoring

reaction. i think a lot of lawmakers, elected officials trying to determine how to respond and just how measured they want to be because you do have a lot of folks in mourning, saddened by the news. that is one of the first reactions we're getting, response from the congresswoman. >> trump vowed throughout the campaign to undo obama's executive orders regarding cuba. but with castro's death now, do you think he'll follow through? >> reporter: that's the big question -- what does this mean for u.s. and cuban relations. as a candidate, he consistently said that he was going to scale back president obama's actions on cuba that were aimed at normalizing relations between the countries. a lot of those actions included lifting restrictions on imports, for example. listen to what candidate trump had to say in september. >> but all of the concessions that barack obama has granted the castro regime were done through executive order. which means the next president

can reverse them. and that, i will do, unless the castro regime meets our demands. those demands will include religious and political freedom for the cuban people and the freeing of missile prisoners. [ cheers ] >> reporter: so the question becomes, will pahrump think that cuba's meeting those demands that he just laid out. but he hit the nail on the head with the key point that the steps that president obama took are executive actions which means they technically can be reversed, rolled back. here's where it gets trickier. the fact is trade has opened up between the two countries, flights have resumed between the two countries. that gets difficult to unwind. all of this against the backdrop of president-elect trump trying to pick a secretary of state, his two top contenders, rudy giuliani, mitt romney, both of them largely in line with

president-elect trump's views on cuba. >> we'll see how fidel castro's death plays into this. live in palm beach, thanks. now to a quick check on the weather this holiday weekend. joining me, msnbc meteorologist bonnie schneider. are we seeing any trouble spots today? >> yes, we absolutely are. i want to let everyone know that's tramping across the west, we have heavy rain coming into seattle, northern california. this is just the beginning of a big rainmaker that's likely to impact your air travel today and especially tomorrow. we're anticipating airport delays in seattle and san francisco due to the weather for today. clouds and heavy rain, possible delays through the afternoon. on the east coast, it looks like we may see lays, as well, in the rtheast. if you're driving on i-95 from portsmouth further to the areas, the new england area, looking for damp roads, possible snow in new england. fog, as well. that's going to slow you down. now, sunday is tulg going to be worse in terms of travel as the rain works into southern california. we're likely to see the threat increase through the day and the

potential for airport delays. be careful driving because you may have mudslides, particularly in the burn areas. if you're driving, santa barbara to san diego, there's the flash flooding i mentioned. and buffalo to boston, lake-effect snow tomorrow in new york state. watch out for possible icing over the bridges and overpasses as the winds wrap around them. we tend to see the most slick spots. a lot of people driving on sunday. just want to give a heads up. >> be careful out there. bonnie, thank you very much. on the heels of black friday, it is small business saturday. this is a day dedicated to patronizing local merchants. while there are no sales projections for today, american express says last year's small business saturday rang up sales of $16.2 billion. that was up from $14.5 in 2014. 95 million people said they shopped at local retailers and various mom and pop businesses on small business saturday last year. as for today, a survey shows 76%

of consumers aware of the event said they plan to support local businesses. 48% said they ambulanplan to spe than last year. back to our top story, the death of fidel castro. will anything change in cuba as a result of his passing? we'll hear from cuban exiles and get their take next. small business saturday is our day to get out and shop small. a day to support our community and show some love for the people we love. and the places we love. the stuff we can't get anywhere else and food that tastes like home. because the mone we spend here can help keep our town growing. today is small business saturday. let's shop small for our neighborhood, our town, our home. get up, (all) get together and shop small today. 80% of recurrent ischemic, strokes could be prevented. and i'm doing all i can to help prevent another one. a bayer aspirin regimen is one of those steps

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now to politics and a victory for green party presidential nominee jill stein in her challenge to election results. the officials in wisconsin say a statewide recount of vote will occur next week after receiving stein's petition in time for the deadline. she live streamed the announcement on her facebook page last night. >> the purpose here is not to overturn the results of the election. the purpose here is to establish voting integrity, to verify our

votes, and to ensure that in this election and going forward that we can count on the accuracy and the security and the voracity of our votes. we need to know that the voting result is what we intended and that the system has not been tampered with or compromised. >> stein also told her followers that she raised nearly $5 million for the recount effort, surpassing her initial fund-raising goal of $2.5 million. she'll focus her efforts on michigan which nbc news still has not called and pennsylvania. president-elect trump continues his holiday weekend at his home in florida. and this after the campaign announced two new staff positions yesterday. campaign finance attorney don mcgann as white house counsel and katie mcfarland as deputy national security adviser. neither position requires senate confirmation. trump will resume meetings with potential administration officials on monday. milwaukee sheriff david clark is

among them. he's in the running to lead the department of homeland security. joining me now, erin mcpike, political consultant, and jonathan allen of "roll call" and co-author of hrc. thank you for joining me. >> good morning. >> thank you. >> erin, i want to start with cuba. and president-elect trump has threatened to reverse president obama's efforts to restore diplomatic relations. how does fidel castro's death change this if at all? >> well, at first blush i would say not at all. do remember that president obama was negotiating with futurecast's younger brother, raul. i would just say, though, that this is another step in the natural progression of what some people might say is coming to a natural end of the old regime in cuba. the other thing i would point out is that as we are watching donald trump get closer to taking the office of the presidency, it's pretty clear that he's taking more of a wait-and-see approach on some of the policies, particularly the ones implemented by president obama. i'm not sure that he will start with that reversal in cuba relations just yet, as soon as

he takes office. >> and erin, what about the trump cabinet picks and the strife over who would be secretary of state? how is this playing out behind the scenes? >> you know, i think it is far less dramatic than we are seeing it be portrayed in the press right now. it's very clear that rudy giuliani badly wants the job. he is going on a public campaign to get that job in a way that i don't think we've ever seen before. it's also clear that donald trump wants to reward rudy giuliani with something, but he might see another candidate as a better fit for secretary of state. at first it was mitt romney. it may be that donald trump is learning a lesson, that floating a trial balloon for this long may not work for him. maybe he should have put out a pick a little bit earlier. but i also think it's possible that he might go with a third choice because there has been this spat. it may be that he has to rein in the staffers who have gone a little rogue on this particular pick. >> and jonathan, you write about the cabinet choices in your

latest column. judge trump with an open mind, and you say there's something heartening about some of his picks. how so? >> reporter: well, i believe if you look at nikki haley, somebody who opposed him on the campaign trail, somebody who brings some diversity to his cabinet, that's a good example of donald trump reaching out beyond just his close loyalists and people who agree with him ideologically. i think, you know, the pick of don mcgann for white house counsel, somebody well known in the washington area, serious lawyer, is another example of not typical cabinet. even the discuss of mitt romney, the serious discussion of mitt romney shows a willingness to be a little more inclusive than i think folks had expected from trump. >> erin, jonathan. it's been a busy morning. thank you very much for being here. >> take care. >> thank you. and next, new analysis of our top story, the death of fidel castro. the reaction inside the exiled community. all finished.

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celebrations have been underway in south florida after midnight last night when the cuban exile community learned of the death of fidel castro. kerry sanders is at miami's famous versailles restaurant where people have been gathering. what is it like now? please tell us about the reaction that you're hearing. >> reporter: well, the reaction, of course, is joyous. these are exiles who have been waiting for fidel castro's death for a very, very long time. people are lined up to get their coffees. and of course, everybody wants to have a little coffee in the morning because especially that coffee that gives them a jolt is needed because they've been partying here since around 2: 2:002,:30 in the morning. people -- 2:00, 2:30 in the morning. people are gathered out here. one of the families celebrating is from cuba, jessica who was

bo born in venezuela, and her parents from havana. your parents don't speak english so we'll do a little bit of translation. [ speaking spanish ] how do you feel? i feel happy. why? [ speaking spanish ] >> reporter: i'll translate. he's talking about with futurecast's rule there's been much suffering, families have been separated, his whenever example of a family that's been separated. [ speaking spanish ] his parents downtown in cuba, and i'll ask him when he could go to cuba to their funeral. [ speaking spanish ] >> reporter: he said when his father and mother died, he asked permission to go back to cuba but wasn't allowed. his and his wife's route was out of cuba to venezuela where there

is -- there still is a very strong relationship. and he went as an electrician and then left venezuela and made his way here to south florida. his daughter was born in venezuela. tell me what your thoughts are. you don't really know cuba the way your parents do. but you've been hearing the stories your whole life. >> right. ever since -- this is a topic that really gets to me. ever since i was very small, i've been hearing stories of cruelty and oppression. my godfather was a political prisoner, as well. my cousins came on a raft with my 7-year-old cousin at the same time. and you hear of people emigrating from different places. i have cousins in italy and spain. we kind of had to separate or leave our cultures behind, leave our families, leave everything we know. >> reporter: this leads back to fidel castro's rule and turning the country to a socialist communist couny. >> correct. had this not happened, perhaps not that many people would have been separated. i mean, obviously ever since

heap came in to power, he started chasing people because of religious beliefs, homosexuals. if you weren't okay with the government or you spoke against the government, you would also get persecuted. and the peter pan -- >> reporter: let's explain that. there were people who don't know what the party plan flights were. -- peter pan flights were. people would take their children and put them on planes and send them to miami. that was a separate family. the catholic church brought them in, found them places to live. eventually the parents were able to get out of cuba. a difficult time for parents to leave the country, to stay behind as they were sending their children out. we understand your celebration across the country, there were people, across the world, of course, who see this completely differently. this is the cuban group. >> horrifying stories but topped with celebrations. thank you very much.

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it's official, wisconsin will conduct a recount of the election ballots. thanks to a petition by former green party candidate jill stein, and it's just one of three states stain is contesting the outcome of the election. and let's bring in joe watkins, and rick tyler, msnbc political analyst and national spokesman for ted cruz. before we get into the recount, let's talk about the news from cuba, castro is dead, and the u.s. has a new president. what does that do for the new

u.s. and cuban relationship? >> i would suspect at this juncture, he will probably want to wait and see. cuban exile families are rejoicing today in castro's death, and he will have to take maybe a more measured approach. >> what is the point of a recount. could it change anything? >> no. if somebody has no chance of winning at all, and -- she talks about this voter fraud, and the green party is trying to raise money off of the recount so they are raising millions, as much as $7 million, and the states have no guarantee of doing no recount, and they are hoping to overturn the election for hillary clinton, and it's a money-raising fraud is what it is. >> and yesterday some said they are getting $2,000 to $3,000 a

day to change their votes. how realistic is that? >> zero. it's been -- for many years, we get a rogue electorate here or there, and donald trump will get a majority and no chance of the electoral college being overt n overturn overturned. >> what is your take on the latest trump appointments? what do his picks so far tell you about how the administration might look? >> well, so far donald trump has picked a lot of people who, i think, are a comfort to republicans and conservatives that were nervous about how the administration would come together. he's ahead of where barack obama was in 2008, and so he will see who he picks for something as important as secretary of state and secretary of defense, and we are talking about the castro regime, and that will be a very

important pick for determining the future of the u.s. castro relationships. >> and secretary of state, why the delay in the pick and what are the considerations there? >> there's no need to rush that appointment. i think he has to consider consider flee between rudy guiliani, and somebody like mitt romney, and he certainly opposed donald trump during the campaign. >> this will be the first diplomatic test. how do you think he will handle it? >> i think he's putting together a great national security team, but when you are looking at the history of cuba and the oppressive regime that has been there, it will take time to unpeel that. i hope he will and we will see a free cuba soon, and i hope the

cuban people will come together and be free as well. >> joe wa, rick, guys, thank yo soefp for your time. >> thank you for spending your morning with me. betty nguyen picks up on the analysis of the death of fidel castro and how it could affect donald trump's presidency. we al. when we get in that spot in life, it's kind of nice to have 'em there. (avo) through the subaru share the love event, we've helped deliver over one point four million meals to those in need. get a new subaru, and we'll donate two hundred and fifty dollars more. ♪put a little love in your heart.♪

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may not always be clear. but at t. rowe price, we can help guide your retirement savings. so wherever your retirement journey takes you, we can help you reach your goals. call us or your advisor t. rowe price. invest with confidence. hello, everyone. i am betty nguyen at msnbc headquarters in new york city. fidel castro has died at the age of 90, and he opposed 11 american presidents and drew the world to