i would love to go to cuba, a free cuba. right now cuba's not free. the hope is, and i think the real celebrations here show that everybody here hopes for a free cuba soon. and for human rights on the island to come to pass. see that is my hope. >> reporter: thank you very much. this is an expression here and last another person who is celebrating with a flag. how do you feel tonight, sir? >> oh, my god. there's no words. so emotional. for my grandparents that are no longer, that they came for freedom and liberty to this country. >> reporter: they never returned? >> they never returned back to cuba. they lost everything in cuba, taken away their businesses. their homes, businesses, they worked hard. if you didn't want to give to the government, they would execute you, you know. the regime is still there. raul castro is going to go through the same system and ideas. but today is a day of celebration. >> reporter: yeah, a celebration, but there is a lost emotion, an emotional moment for many -- a lot of emotion, an emotional moment for many in the commu

jeffrey: cuba is a very small country. julia: cuba is a very small country.e has been notoriously ambitious. he took office in 1959 when he was 32. he was in politics since his early 20's. 70 years of putting himself on the political stage in cuba. doing it in a very high-risk way as well. jeffrey: what was it about him that made him want to insert himself into the course of world history? again punching way above his , weight? julia: i don't know it was answerable. it was in his dna. he was born that way. he was fixated as a young channel dish as a young child with the united states. the relationship with the united states was formative, not antagonistic. we have letters from him when he writes to fdr as a 12-year-old. he came here on his honeymoon. [indiscernible] [laughter] he campaigned in new york city and washington dc to raise money for cuban-americans. jeffrey: was it a love-hate relationship? or a hate-hate relationship? jorge: no, it was an effort to bring cuba out of the thumb of the united states of america. he was insulted how the united states h

, stirring the pot with cuba, fighting battles with cuba, that only supports hard-liners in cuba who reject any opening to the united states. what we said is we want to put the conflict in the past. we want to look forward that is in our interest. if we want to promote things like the empowerment of the cuban people, a better life for the cuban people, that is best served by not looking backwards but by looking forwards. >> all about cuba when we continue. >> funding for charlie rose is provided by the following: >> and by bloomberg, a provider of multimedia news and information services worldwide. captioning sponsored by rose communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. >> good evening, i'm jefer ree goldberg of the atlantic filling in for charlie rose who is in cuba on assignment. fidel castro died on friday, he was 90 years old. the cuban revolutionary lead the country for nearly half a century. he first came to o power in 1959 as a passionate guerilla leader who transformed the small island nation into the first and only communist state in the western h

>> well, that's one of the reasons my parents left cuba, took us out of cuba to the united states. i would -- when fidel castro took over, i would bring home from school the coloring pictures of the brave cuban soldier bayonetting the cowardly american soldier brainwashing the kids and one day at school our teachers said, all right, kid, pray to god for ice cream. and we closed our eyes, no ice cream, and then the teacher says, well, let's ask fidel for ice cream, and, yay, we got ice cream. at first the castro regime tried to undermine the church before they decided it was easier to and 60 years of socialism and communism and failure. >> alex, you told us your parents got you out of cuba in 1961. you left with $11 and 2 suitcases. do you think after this death overnight of fidel castro that things will change on the ground in the country of your birth? >> i am hopeful, but i'm not optimistic. you know, raul castro basically has been in power since 2006, since 2008 officially, and cuba is a military oligopoly, it's run by the military, by the generals. raul castro is the head of th

alex was born in cuba. came to the u.s. shortly after whose family fled cuba years ago. you were raised among cuban expats in this country. alex, let me start with you. you have a story, a very powerful story of being in school as a child under a newly empowered fidel castro. what was that like? >> well, that's one of the reasons my parents left cuba, took us out of cuba to the united states. i would -- when fidel castro took over, i would bring home from school the coloring pictures of the brave cuban soldier bayonetting the cowardly american soldier brainwashing the kids and one day at school our teachers said, all right, kid, pray to god for ice cream. and we closed our eyes, no ice cream, and then the teacher says, well, let's ask fidel for ice cream, and, yay, we got ice cream. at first the castro regime tried to undermine the church before they decided it was easier to co-opt it, but that's the story and 60 years of socialism and communism and failure. >> alex, you told us your parents got you out of cuba in 1961. you left with $11 and 2 suitcases. do you think aft

in 1979 in cuba.espite decades of fighting we became friends because we respected each other, and certainly there's a lot of respect for fidel castro as the leader globally. >> at the same time though a very different scene we're seeing in places like miami. there are many people who hated fidel castro, who call him a dictator, who call him a person who murdered families, imprisoned people. >> yes, i think if you look at fidel castro through the lens of miami, you see it through a very distorted lens. there's one simple statistic i give to people, which is 7.3 billion people on planet earth and 3 or 12% live in the west and 88% live outside the west. for the 88% who live outside the west, who watch the story of cuba and this amazing small country that was able to stand up for decades to the most powerful country in the world, it was a david and goliath fight and everyone expected david to be crushed and david kept surviving. that why there's a lot of global admiration for fidel castro even among those

and cuba together. what does castro's death mean now for u.s./cuba relations moving forward?nd there's a lot that he isn't able to do, and make-a-wish stepped in. we had to climb up the mountain to get the injured hiker. he fell from, like, a rock. he's been the one that has been rescued so many times. he said to me, "today, i got to be the hero." (avo) the subaru share the love event has helped grant the wishes of over twelve hundred kids so far. get a new subaru, and we'll donate two hundred and fifty dollars more to help those in need. ♪put a little love in your heart.♪ scalpel. i have no idea what i'm doing. i'm just a tv doctor. i never went to college. (scream) i don't do blood. but now, thanks to cigna, i can do more than just look the part. is that a foot? we are the tv doctors of america. and we're partnering with cigna to help save lives. by getting you to a real doctor for an annual check-up. so go, know, and take control of your health. doctor poses. cigntogether, all the way. a lot of the things that we have in our diet today can actually enamel is the outer surf

jeffrey: cuba is a very small country. julia: cuba is a very small country.e took office in 1959 when he was 32. he was in politics since his early 20's. 70 years of putting himself on the political stage in cuba. doing it in a very high-risk way as well. jeffrey: what was it about him that made him want to insert himself into the course of world history? punching way above his weight? julia: it was in his dna. he was born that way. the relationship with the united states was formative, not antagonistic. we have letters from him when he writes to fdr as a 12-year-old. he came here on his honeymoon. new york cityin and washington dc to raise money for cuban-americans. jeffrey: was it a love-hate relationship? relationship? jorge: no, he was insulted. the unitedlted how states had turned cuba into a playground for the rich and famous. humans do not have their own independence -- cubans did not have their own independence. he took a regular sized caribbean island and made it a major player on the world stage are beyond its geographic size and location. he also h

long live cuba. sign of solidarity for commander in the death of fidel castro. >> ileana ros-lehtinen defeated both tyrant and thug, fidel castro is dead. we must work for a cuba that is free, democratic and prosperous. >> and in cuba and the united states, with the u.s. opening of the embassy in havana. >> reporter: fidel castro's were dwindling. saying soon i will be like everyone else. after a fear fatal illness in 2008, castro turned the reins of power to his younger brother raul. as cuba's new president began taking tentative steps towards reform, the u.s. began to ease its restrictions. fidel castro was suspicious writing in january 2015, although he does not trust u.s. poles and have not exchanged a word with them, this does not mean however that i will would oppose a peaceful solution to conflicts or threats of war. in september of last year, fidel met with pope francis and they talked about problems of humanity which the pope had condemned cuba's totalitarian regime. and barack obama visited

policy toward cuba. i just want to make sure that those changes are reciprocal, that that's a reciprocate by the cuban government. that was not part of what president obama did. and i want to make sure they're the kinds of things that help create a pathway toward democracy in cuba because while fidel castro was 90 years old his brother's 85. there is going to be a generational leadership change in cuba over the next five to ten years, hopefully sooner, and incentivizes and makes it easier for there to be a (coughs) cough doesn't sound so good. take mucinex dm. i'll text you in 4 hours when your cough returns. one pill lasts 12 hours, so... looks like i'm good all night! but just one mucinex lasts 12 hours. let's end this. i did everything i could to make her party perfect. almost everything. you know, 1 i n 10 houses could get hit by an expensive septic disaster. but for only $7 a month, >>> fidel castro was a thorn in the side of ten u.s. presidents. he died friday at the age of 90. martha tieshner look

i was born in cuba.st prominent schools when i made a joke about president fidel castro. i was a teenager. the kid that slept on the bunk bed on top of me recorded our conversation and i was expelled from school. my mom said the only choice is for us to leave cuba. i've lived in miami 35 years. it's my home base. i come back and forth it cuba. i've been coming to cuba for over 20 years. cuba is a communist country in economic transition. >> fidel castro allowed cubans to establish more businesses, there are people that are making money, there are people that have created a tremendous amount of wealth. >> people with family connections to the states, people tied to the exploding tourist industry, small businessowners, taxi drivers, people operating in ever-changing gray areas of what is permissible. how's it work right now? if you're cuban, you can sell your property to -- >> another cuban from cuba. that's what's happening right now. a lot of cuban-americans, a lot of cubans living abroad are now coming

viva cuba! >> sreenivasan: ...in leftist leaders like venezuela's hugo chavez and bolivia's evo morales, who said they were inspired by the cuban revolution and joined castro in delighted defiance of uncle sam. fidel's slow fade began on july 31, 2006, when he ceded power to his younger brother, raul. the news that castro had undergone successful surgery for gastrointestinal bleeding aired over state television. in the states, among the exile and cuban american population, there was anxiety along with jubilation at the idea that this could be the end. but soon, castro allowed himself to appear in photos from his hospital bed and even entertained friends while convalescing. when he was up and moving in october of 2006, the video captured a frail and aging man in a much weakened state trying to look healthy. in december 2006, cubans celebrated the 50th anniversary of the revolution and a belated birthday without the guest of honor who was still too ill to attend. he didn't reappear in the public e

cuba.> who had to leave their country and often leave family members behind, and really blaming fidel castro for the split, for the loss of property and for the loss of memories and for the loss of family. so there's an incredible bitterness towards fidel castro, especially among the older generation of cuban americans in south florida where most of them have settled and become a post-political force. among the younger generation of cubans, that bitterness is much less though and i think there's more support among younger cuban americans for more normalized relations an more travel back and forth to cuba. so there's really a generational split. as you mention, there have been false alarms in the past. this is not a false alarm. cuban state television has con dpirm his death at 90. he has been ailing for a number of years and actually gave up formal power ten years ago. it is not a hoax. but for some cubans fidel castro has been sidelined. one man told me this evening, i thought he was alrea

and cuba.ring, how do you see the next administration handling relations with raul, his brother, the president? >> well, i think it's a complex set of choices. the incoming president is a hotel guy who is a business guy who until the very end of this campaign basically endorsed obama's opening toward cuba. said he would have gotten a better deal. but only in the last throes in florida said he would undo the actions the president had taken. i think there are a number of business and just constituencies in american society across the board who are going to be standing behind continuing what has started in terms of the opening of commercial and family and travel and people to people ties. the flights are starting, the cruises are going down there. hotels are opening. there was an 80% increase in american travel this year over last. cuban americans -- i noted in your coverage from miami -- there weren't so many of them out in the street. that's because they're traveling on the more than 50 or now p

president to visit cuba since 1928. obama took steps to reopen economic ties with cuba. will president-elect trump toss president obama's cuba initiatives out the window? we'll talk it over with josh rogan. what do we know about trump's stance about cuba? >> sure. trump has said a lot about what he would do about cuba. the vast majority of the time he said that president obama's opening to cuba was a bad deal. he's not opposed to bring cuba back into the fold, but he thinks cuba must do more in order to receive the social and economic benefits that come with a normalized relationship with the united states. what more, you may ask? what we've seen is that the u.s. trade embargo in cuba has not proved to move the castro away from its admittedly brutal and repressive policies. the question will be for donald trump when he takes office, does he want to roll back those policies? he will have the ability to do so, they're mostly executive orders. congress has not lifted the embargo. the question is does he see any benefit to taking those relationships away, taking u.s. busines

what obama has done is not made a bad deal with cuba. he is not made any deal with cuba at all.aid to the cubans, we're going to move forward in the interest of u.s. policy, and the interest of our relations with the rest of latin america, and in our own interest that we should have a different relationship with you and we think it will have an impact on our society, your economy, and on your politics over the long-term. that we are going to move forward for normal relations. if you wantn us wit and if you don't want to, you don't have to. cubans have always had normal relations with the united states. classified history of fidel reaching out to the u.s. and between speeches denouncing imperialist yankees is very clear in the book that rio grande and i did "back channel to cuba." he wanted validation for having a peaceful coexistence with the united states. and as lou perez pointed out, cuba purported not to live in the shadow -- preferred not to live in the shadow from the colossus of the north. they would much prefer not to have the threat of u.s. intervention hanging over the

but fidel castro changed the course of cuba. he changed the way cuba was. in 1959, 1958, cuba was pretty much a satellite of the united states. run by the united states. run by the united states mafia. all those casinos, all that lively dance footage we see of cuba, that was all run by the mafia. th and castro came in and he cleaned that out. and not only did he do that, he's revered in his country, in cuba, for changing the class system. there was a huge class system in cuba up until then. and the peasant class didn't know how to read or write. most of the people in cuba didn't know how to read and write in 1960. and in fact, they didn't have medical care of any kind. so castro came into power, he spent money on those things. they have a very good education system. they have a very good medical system. and they have electricity all over the island. do they have all the freedoms that the united states has? they do not and the people there want those freedoms. and that's why many of them will be happy to see castro gone right now. but it will not change his

after 50 years. >> cuba, people live a long time in cuba. the life expectancy, 70 years oyears -- 80 years old here. inhe united states, 79. why do you think? >> in my opinion, that's happened maybe because we live more quieter, more free in our spirits. the cuban is free. cue base the best country to live. no violence, no crime in the street, very, very loud person we have in this country, no crime and violence. for example, in cuba, you can see a child in the street playing in 6:00 in the afternoon to 12:00 midnight and no happen nothing. >> no worries. >> nothing. very, very safe country for living. maybe that is the one reason between the many one where cuban people are living better, are living more fine. >> what other reasons do you think? >> for example, the food in cuba is nature. >> natural? >> yes. >> that's good. the americans use so many chemicals in their food. not only in america, around the world. >> i think you are right. how about fixing the car if it has problems? >> myself. >> you fix it yourself? >> you are a mechanic. >>

many chanting cuba libre, meaning cuba this morning is free. >> very interesting.hour, nine days of cuba is beginning. this hour. nine days. on the local radio there there can't be any happy music it has to be about the state. a reminder for what is a sad day for some in cuba but also the boot on the throat that fidel castro led with for so long. you know, you can't have any freedoms, basically, so i have been watching some other channels the last little while that say there is no side to this. a lot of people adored him. give me a break. freedom lovers around the globe today are celebrating because a dictator is dead, yes, his brother raoul still rules with an iron fist. but fidel castro was a revolutionary turned despot and dictator who oppressed his own people for decades. communist cause that set his country back for decades. it's okay to be honest about that. >> our own bret baier covered all of the bases on an incredible life. >> in the end, his speeches had grown shorter, his appearances for rare, but fidel castro's tone remained defiant as ever. >> socialis

from viva cuba.a to here in brazil, the center right president, calling fidel castro a man of conviction. of course, in venezuela, nicolas maduro declaring that it's our turn, we'll keep the revolution alive. of course, that's a bigger challenge as latin america shifts further to the right and away from fidel castro's memory. shasta darlington, cnn, rio de janeiro. >>> when it comes to cuba and the catholic church, fidel castro saw it as an enemy during the early days of his rule. a breakthrough came when pope john paul ii met with castro and relations more last year when pope francis visited the island nation. ben wedeman has more on the vatican's reaction on castro's death. >> he sent condolences to raul cass tree on the death of his brother. fidel castro had a complicated relationship with the catholic church in 1961 when cuba declared itself a socialist country and shut down the catholic university there, closed 350 catholic schools and ex appropriated hundreds of catholic churches. nonetheless,

i was born in cuba.most prominent schools when i made a joke about president fidel castro. i was a teenager. the kid that slept on the bunk bed on top of me recorded our conversation and i was expelled from school. my mom said the only choice is for us to leave cuba. i'm a businessman. i've lived in miami 35 years. it's my home base. i come back and forth to cuba. i've been coming to cuba for over 20 years. cuba is a communist country in economic transition. >> fidel castro allowed cubans to establish more businesses, there are people that are making money, there are people that have created a tremendous amount of wealth. >> people with family connections to the states, people tied to the exploding tourist industry, small businessowners, taxi drivers, people operating in ever-changing gray areas of what is permissible. how's it work right now? if you're cuban, you can sell your property to -- >> another cuban from cuba. that's what's happening right now. a lot of cuban-americans, a lot of cubans living a

>> while he transformed cuba. cue bans transformed tampa by running the cigar fact ris. >> the connection between tampa and cuba is direct and long. it's based on families as well as tradition. >> okay. that was adam goodman and this is adam here with us onset. traveled with us to cuba back in march. where do we start? >> let's talk about the embargo. cuba. when do you think and do you think this should be lifted? >> first of all, thank god we're moving into another period in cuba's history. that's one we want to turn the page on. what's interesting is to see what the president elect does. the master deal maker. i'm sure he looked at the cuba deal as lousy and wants to redo it. the question is how? looking at the evidence of an embargo that frankly has not with this a couple of weeks ago talking about predictions for cab nechlt do you see anything else in the future here in the near future? >> well the greatest cabinet post is secretary of state. i'm on record as having reservations object romney. not only bitter

writing, trying to be the conscience of cuba more than the ruler of cuba. but he remains, to his death, a very important figure. while he was -- because of his nationalism, because of what he meant to the people, he meant that cuba would not be dominated by the united states even though the united states is so big and so close. >> so jim, looking at this, we're looking at the historic footage of fidel castro. you can't help but think about his legacy after all these years. what do you think will be the word of historians when they look back at the life of fidel castro? >> well, i think he'll be the most prominent figure in cuba. perhaps only overshadowed a about cuba becoming free. but fidel castro changed the course of cuba. he changed the way cuba was. in 1959, 1958, cuba was pretty much a satellite of the united states. run by the united states. run by the united states mafia. all those casinos, all that lively dance footage we see of cuba, that was all run by the mafia. the united states and castro came in and he cleaned that out. and not only did he do

policy toward cuba. i just want to make sure that those changes are reciprocal, that they're reciprocated by the cuban government. that was not part of what president obama did. and i want to make sure they're the kinds of things that help create a pathway toward democracy in cuba because while fidel castro was 90 years old his brother's 85. there is going to be a generational leadership change in cuba over the next five to foreign policy toward cuba incentivizes and makes it easier for there to be a democratic transition. >>> when the "overnigh i did everything i could to make her party perfect. almost everything. you know, 1 i n 10 houses could get hit by an expensive septic disaster. but for only $7 a month, rid-x helps break down waste. avoid a septic disaster with rid-x. ?living well? rise above joint discomfort with move free ultra's triple action joint support for improved mobility and flexibility, and 20% better comfort from one tiny, mighty pill... get move free ultra, and enjoy living well. ? r

desde cuba tenemos el sentir del pueblo.sternaciÓn y sin poder creer esta gran noticia del fallecimiento de fidel castro. se puede sentir la rigidez en la comunidad cubana. tuve oportunidad de hablar con varias personas que con lÁgrimas en los ojos expresaron la gran partida del lÍder polÍtico. tambiÉn hable con muchos jÓvenes, es impresionante como la juventud tambiÉn quiere conservar el nombre de fidel castro y las memorias que dejÓ para generaciones futuras. >> muy valioso, una pÉrdida irreparable. reportera: hoy y maÑana estarÁn los familiares despidiendo se de Él, para dar inicio a todas las actividades que se estarÁn conmemorando a fidel castro, y para dar su despedida. en general las calles estÁn vacÍas. las personas tratan de seguir con sus actividades normales, pero con la tristeza que no dejan de sentir. fÉlix: el regimen castrista ha organizado una jornada para homenajear a su mÁximo lÍder durante dÉcadas. recorriend -- recordando el reo triunfal que hizo hace aÑos, sus restos reposan en el cementerio de santa ifi

maintains an embargo o cuba. and many people after the funeral, after the mourning is completed will wonder how this impacts their lives. they have lived, most people on this island, they have lived their entire lives with a casse toe as president. so very much the era of fidel castro has come to an end tonight many people want to know what that means for them. >> cnn's dedicated correspondent to cuba, patrick ottoman live for us this hour. patrick pointing out that many cubance learned this information from him. the news just starting to spread. >> many don't know yet. >> they are still learning, still learning. which is fascinating. patrick please stand by. i want to bring in cnn correspond enrafael romo. he has covered the geopolitics of latin america for many years. rafael, patrick pointed this out, but many people in cuba are looking at the changes that have been happening under raoul castro, under the u.s. president barack obama improved travel relations, improved relations as a whole. is this a possible op

three were originally from cuba. facts presented so far raise a number of intriguing questions, such as did someone put up a lot of money to have the democratic headquarters infiltrated and, if so, who and why? >> the president's press secretary said of this incident, i'm not going to comment from the white house from a third rate burglary attempt. obviously, he said, we don't condone that kind of second rate activity. >> when the first reports came about the burglary at the watergate, i didn't think much of it. but more and more facts begin to come out. >> this is a police photograph of james w. mccord. mccord is a former cia employee. now he runs his own private security service. and guess what else he is. a consultant to president richard nixon's reelection campaign committee. mccord and his accomplices meanwhile have been charged with second-degree burglary and have been released on bail, but i don't think that's the last we're going to hear on this story. >> it's one of the most shocking actions i think that's h

hasta el momento cuba no figuraba en los primeros 100 dÍas del presidente electo.l castro llegÓ vivir el deseo de su revoluciÓn. pero muriÓ con la incertidumbre de lo que podrÍa venir con la elecciÓn de trump, dicen que es un escuadrÓn de rechazo a los derechos humanos y harÍa de todo para que el pueblo cubano empiece la campaÑa por la libertad. >> a menos que hallan cambios en materia de derechos humanos. >> es fundamental que la polÍtica de estados unidos sea una polÍtica de absoluta solidaridad con el pueblo de cuba. >> necesitamos suspender la lÍnea de vida econÓmica que la administraciÓn obama le ha dado al rÉgimen de castro a traves de inundaciÓn de dolares. >> pero la casa blanca apuesta por las relaciones diplomÁticas. eso ahora vÍnculos comerciales. >>> yo creo que es muy difÍcil revertir porque muchos inversionistas americanos que invirtieron dinero en cuba. la situaciÓn de latinoamÉrica en dÓnde aplaude sobre todo el cambio en polÍticas. >> entretanto a corto plazo para algunos es lo que no dijo obama en su declaraciÓn lo que mÁs malestar ha generado. >>

and cuba. just last march, closer ties were marked with the president's visit here. since then, u.s. tourism has stepped up. hotels, airlines, stepping up their plans. jim avila on what's at stake right now. >> reporter: a sunday afternoon game of dominoes on the porch in havana. bars and nightclubs are closed for the cubans until after the funeral. the visitors have noticed. >> missing all the music which >> reporter: tourism up 12% in the first half of this year. starting monday, american airlines flies from miami, united from newark and delta from atlanta. bringing the total number of direct flights to more than 100. fidel's death unlikely to cool the warming relationship between the u.s. and cuba. but the freeze could come from the north if president-elect donald trump follows through on that campaign warning. >> we will cancel obama's one-sided cuban deal made by executive order if we don't get the deal we want and the deal that people living in cuba and here deserve. >> reporter: this hav

to havana, cuba. i want to touch on something you mentioned last hour. the statement that fidel castro was described as immortal until proven otherwise. this is a leader revered and loved by many. and hated and despised by many. what would you say the reaction is as you point out the news is starting to slowly get traction there in cuba. that this former leader has died. >> i think people are stunned. there's a been a silence and sadness. i haven't seen too many tears. that perhaps will come later. whether they are real or people being told by the government to show their sadness at fidel castro's passing. for many of the young people here they never knew him as president. he has been out of power and out of sight for ten years. certainly in the last years of rule here did not lead the active life. he drove his own jeep, shook hands, gave speeches, sometimes for hurst hours. there was no escaping fidel castro for many years. in the last years he was out of sight. a few months ago talked to his son and

the solution of what could happen in cuba towards democracy is with the cubans in cuba, not here. when did you leave the country? he came in a boatlift, and it was a controversial boatlift, he not only allowed people to come here, but he emptied the insane asylums to come here and that became a problem here. that has been revolved. how are you feeling right now? it's the day that is more happy of my life. it's the happiest day you have had in your life? he doesn't think there's going to be a day as happy for him as there is right now. >> reporter: wait, wait, wait. what he's talking about now is the recent election of donald trump, and he's hoping donald trump will cut out all of the benefits, as he calls them, between the united states and cuba. thank you very much. what he's talking about is the sense of not only renewed diplomatic relations but the fact there are regular commercial flights to cuba, and many in the cuban community here feel these increased relations mean more money to the communist government in cuba and that money goes to support them. it has been a steady para

she's also editor of cuba, a travelers literary companion and cuba confidential. she teaches international journalism at the university of california at santa barbara. without fidel is a terrific book, fun to read and format it and the subject matter is endlessly fascinating. alice castro are able to stay in power for 50 years? why was the united states not able to topple him and how was he able to maneuver so that communism fell everywhere else in the world? and if the united states had no sway in cuba, how was it that he was not overthrown by his own people. families in this book discusses cuba somewhat without fidel. she reports on a stillness in the relationship between raul infidel and continues to report i'm not part of the story that never seems to end, the miami cuba washington ballet. well, everybody is waiting for the shoe to drop which will come first, fidel dying for cuba opening up for obama. nice to have you with us. >> it's a wonderful little paragraph that i wanted to read to you that says it all. now if i can find it. and she very first, 2009, few

you've been in cuba. how long do you think the people of cuba are taking this news that fidel castro has died at the age of 90? >> we were in cuba just a few days ago. went there on tuesday and wednesday, and we were shooting a story about the impact of the cigar industry and how the lifting of restrictions several weeks ago by the obama administration and cuban cigars might affect businesses here in the united states. we're also speaking about how they felt about the stalling of diplomatic relations that we've talked about the past few minutes now, and, you know, really what strikes you is when you are in havana, it's -- many people there are thirsty to have this thawing of relations with the u.s. kbloe >> many of them want this thawing of relations, and they feel that if the u.s. and cuba can sort of move forward with this new era of relations, that it could be a benefit for both countries. now, you look at the pictures now that were lookingt out of little havana in miami. i can tell you growing up in m

and cuba. but there also has been that tone referring to the many attempts by the cia to murder or assassinate fidel castro. signs that the united states, that old cold war power, remember what they did. so it's been used on many different level. but i'd have to say for russians, it was a lot of close relationship, russians worked in cuba, some married cubans. so there was a very tight relationship. and i think that you'll probably see a number of people, maybe older generation over at the cuban embassy today expressing their condolences. >> these two nations have been closely tied together over the decades. and it will be interesting, it will be telling to see he which world leaders are there at the final ceremony for fidel castro. >> very telling on a diplomatic level. >> cnn contributor jill dougherty live for us. jill, thank you very much. jill has a lot of experience in russia and we get a sense of the reaction there today. let's talk now about the little havana neighborhood in miami, flor