Brother Raúl Castro announces on Cuban state television that controversial revolutionary leader has died at age of 90
Fidel Castro, Cuba’s revolutionary leader, dies aged 90
Legacy: how Castro inspired and appalled the world
7.15am GMT
India’s prime minister Narendra Modi has tweeted his condolences on the death of Castro, whom he called “one of the most iconic personalities of the 20th century” and “a great friend”:
I extend my deepest condolences to the Government & people of Cuba on the sad demise of Fidel Castro. May his soul rest in peace.
We stand in support with the Cuban Government and people in this tragic hour.
Fidel Castro was one of the most iconic personalities of the 20th century. India mourns the loss of a great friend.
7.10am GMT
In March this year, Barack Obama became the first US president to visit Cuba since the revolution of 1959 and Castro’s ascent.
¿Que bolá Cuba? Just touched down here, looking forward to meeting and hearing directly from the Cuban people.
No one should be under the illusion that the people of this noble and selfless country will renounce its glory and its rights, and the spiritual wealth that is has gained with the development of education, science and culture.
6.58am GMT
Little Havana, the Miami neighbourhood home to many Cubans in exile in the US, is celebrating tonight (it’s around 2am there now).
Starting to be a real crowd outside Versailles in Little Havana, cars stopping to honk and cheer "Cuba Libre!" (And "el viejo murió!") pic.twitter.com/pzBvC4fdNV
Hundreds gathering in Little Havana at Versailles, honking horns, banging pots and pans, waving Cuban and U.S. flags. Cheers. #FidelCastro pic.twitter.com/QUnJI6KnT1
6.51am GMT
Here’s how the Guardian (the Manchester Guardian, as it then was) reported the arrival of Fidel Castro into Havana on 8 January 1959.
Alistair Cooke reported:
Cuba is unlikely to recognise the Soviet Union “or any other dictatorship” as long as it is busy, which it seemed to be to-day, creating a provisional dictatorship of its own. It was Fidel Castro, the conquering rebel, who passed the snubbing remark about the Communists to-day, while his appointed president, Judge Manuel Urrutia Lleo, was dissolving the Congress and the courts and having his Cabinet draft decrees that will abolish all political parties and ban from future office all candidates in the 1954 and 1958 elections held under the auspices of the departed President Batista.
The Cabinet announced yesterday that the country will be ruled by decree for 18 months or two years, by which time – it hopes – Cuba will be ready for free elections and a go at democracy …
Related: Castro is Cuba's saviour - for now: from the archive, 8 January 1959
6.39am GMT
Imran Khan, former cricketer turned leader of Pakistan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf party, has tweeted a tribute to Castro:
1. Today the world lost an iconic revolutionary leader Fidel Castro who liberated his nation from all vestiges of imperialism.
2. Castro reasserted the Cuban nation's dignity & self worth that withstood US aggression & became a global ldr for anti colonial struggles
3. We in Pakistan will always remember with gratitude Cuba's support on the ground in the aftermath of the 2005 earthquake
6.33am GMT
As news of Castro’s death broke late on Friday night in the Americas, reactions from across the globe are expected to roll in over the coming hours.
But verdicts on the man who ruled Cuba as a one-party state for almost half a century have long been sharply divided.
Castro is not just another Latin American dictator, a petty tyrant bent merely on personal power and gain. His ambitions extend far beyond his own shores.
Fidel, for me, is a grand master. A wise man should never die; a man like Fidel will never die, because he will always be part of the people.
From its earliest days, the Cuban revolution has been a source of inspiration for all those who value freedom. We admire the sacrifices of the Cuban people in maintaining their independence and sovereignty in the face of the vicious imperialist and orchestrated campaign to destroy the awesome force of the Cuban revolution.
Long live the Cuban Revolution! Long live comrade Fidel Castro!
I remember Herbert Matthews’ reports on Castro before he came to power, calling him a democrat and the hope of Cuba. And to some of you who are really too young to remember this, even people around our country were calling him the George Washington of Cuba, and George rolled over in his grave.
A man of great charisma. He’s brave, Fidel Castro. A politician, with an iron fist. He stays strong. He put his close friend [General Arnaldo Ochoa, executed for treason in July 1989] in front of the firing squad.
I would have given him a life sentence or expelled him from the country, but he had him shot.
6.26am GMT
The man who famously declared “history will absolve me” leaves a divided legacy. Older Cubans who remember brutal times under Batista tend to emphasise the revolution’s accomplishments. Younger Cubans are more likely to rail against gerontocracy, repression and lost opportunity. But even they refer to Castro by the more intimate name of Fidel.
Since largely vanishing from public view he has been a spectral presence, occasionally surfacing in what became a trademark tracksuit, to urge faith in the revolution. It was a long goodbye which accustomed Cubans to his mortality.
6.20am GMT
Here is video of that announcement on Cuban TV of the death of Fidel Castro.
His brother, President Raúl Castro, said the former revolutionary leader had died at 10.29pm on Friday.
Información de Raúl Castro sobre el fallecimiento del líder de la Revolución Cubana #FidelCastro #Cuba pic.twitter.com/vSwWY3gdiH
6.15am GMT
AFP reports that Castro’s body will be cremated on Saturday, citing Raúl Castro.
This image shows Raúl Castro – who succeeded his brother as Cuba’s president in 2008 – announcing news of the death on national TV:
Raúl Castro announces the death of his brother #FidelCastro on Cuban national TV (via @franceinfo) pic.twitter.com/I3zOuu0A12
6.08am GMT
Some reaction from Florida, home of many Cubans in exile. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, senior Republican representative for the state, tweeted:
We must seize the moment and help write a new chapter in the history of #Cuba; that of a Cuba that is free, democratic, and prosperous.
Un día tenía q pasar. Pero la muerte de un dictador mientras que su hermano mantiene la misma opresión contra el pueblo cubano no es cambio
I was born in Cuba and Fidel Castro was our leader. Came to the USA because of him.
6.02am GMT
No further details were given on Cuban state TV, beyond the news that Fidel Castro – for so long the country’s defining figure – had died on Friday evening.
In April this year, Castro appeared at the close of the Communist party congress in Havana and alluded to the fact he would not be around for ever:
I’ll be 90 years old soon. Soon I’ll be like all the others.
The time will come for all of us, but the ideas of the Cuban communists will remain as proof on this planet that if they are worked at with fervour and dignity, they can produce the material and cultural goods that human beings need, and we need to fight without truce to obtain them.
5.53am GMT
The announcement was long expected, given the former president’s age and health problems, but when it came it was still a shock: the comandante – a figurehead for armed struggle across the developing world – was no more. It was news that friends and foes had long dreaded and yearned for respectively.
The Communist party and state apparatus has prepared for this moment since July 2006 when Castro underwent emergency intestinal surgery and ceded power to his brother, Raúl, who remains in charge.
5.50am GMT
Castro died on Friday evening, his brother Raúl announced on national television.
The commander in chief of the Cuban revolution died 10.29pm tonight.
5.37am GMT
Fidel Castro has died at the age of 90, Cuban state television has announced, ending an era for the country.
We will have all the reaction and fallout as Cuba, Latin America and the wider world learns of the death of a revolutionary and controversial figure.
Related: Fidel Castro, Cuba’s revolutionary icon, dies aged 90
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