'Everyone feels it' - Fidel Castro's death prompts some to celebrate in the streets while others mourn

'Many people are crying. Some complain of high blood pressure.'

A national 9-day mourning period began Saturday when Cuba awoke to news of Fidel Castro's passing.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Fidel's brother Raúl Castro made the announcement Friday on Cuban television.

"I say to the people of Cuba, with profound pain I come here to inform our people, our friends of America and the world, that today, 25 November, 2016, at 10:29 pm, died the chief commander of the Cuban revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz," Raúl announced.

There was no comment on how Fidel Castro died and no other details were provided, though his health had been on the decline for several years.

Cuban news outlet Granma reported all activities and public performances were to cease and the nation's flag will be flown at half-mast in public and military locations.

All radio and television stations will broadcast patriotic and historical programming as well.

Various memorials will be available for Cubans to pay respects on Monday and Tuesday, while a public mass will be held in the José Martí Revolution Square in Havana Tuesday evening.

Castro's body was cremated Wednesday and his ashes will be traveling the same route, in reverse, he took across Cuba after seizing power in 1959.

His ashes will conclude their journey Saturday and another Mass will take place in Plaza Antonio Maceo in Santiago de Cuba. Castro's funeral will be held the following morning at the  Santa Ifigenia cemetery in Santiago de Cuba.

Fidel Castro is best known as a revolutionary who completely turned Cuba upside-down during his reign.

Robert Pastor, a former national security adviser for President Jimmy Carter in the 1970s told CNN in 2012: "There are few individuals in the 20th century who had a more profound impact on a single country than Fidel Castro had in Cuba. He reshaped Cuba in his image, for both bad and good."

Wayne Smith, the top U.S. diplomat in Cuba between 1979 and 1982 explained, "Cuba hadn't counted for much in the scale of politics and history until Castro."

Castro promised democracy and an end to repression but when he took power he led by the perfect mix of charisma and repression. He was a gifted speaker who came to power with plans to remain there indefinitely.

His dictatorship led to strained relations with the United States but a social order no other poor nations have been able to achieve.

José Ramón Fernández, a former Cuban vice president, claimed: "What Fidel achieved in the social order of this country has not been achieved by any poor nation, and even by many rich countries, despite being submitted to enormous pressures."

Cuba was certainly changed after the Castros came into power but those who loved Castro have been mourning while those who hated his leadership have been celebrating.

Many in Cuba have shown their satisfaction with Castro and have been mourning his death since the announcement.

One young woman told CNN, "The Cuban people are feeling sad because of the loss of our commander in chief Fidel Castro Ruz, and we wish him, wherever he is, that he is blessed, and us Cubans love him."

Angel Daniel Castro, a nephew of Fidel Castro's maintains the people are a mess.

"They have been knocking and calling and asking if it is true, Angel reported. "Many people are crying. Some complain of high blood pressure. Fidel was a good man. For us, he was like a father. And Cuba sees him as a father. One woman just called crying and saying she had lost her father. Everyone feels it."

Meanwhile, thousands of others have been celebrating in the streets.

In Florida, many Cuban-Americans have been holding peaceful demonstrations, honking car horns, cheering, and even weeping for loved ones who did not live to hear the news.

Thousands took to the streets in Miami's Little Havana with Cuban flags, fireworks, banking pots with spoons and celebrating Castro's death.

Roughly 2 million Cubans live in the United States, with nearly 70 percent of them located in Florida. Many were exiled from their homeland and relocated to Florida, where many danced and hugged in the streets in wake of the dictator's death.

Several have also taken to Twitter to express their joy at the dictator's end.

"Wow! Fidel Castro died! Cuba will be free! People celebrating on the streets of Miami the end of the tyranny!" one person wrote.

Another posted a meme of Castro lying in bed, presumably dead, with the caption, "When you finally become a good communist."

Others posted Bible quotes, such as Proverbs 28:28: "When the wicked rise, men hide themselves; but when they perish, the righteous increase."

Some were angry at the amount of positive news about Castro. One person wrote, "To romanticize another bloody dictator? Thanks, but no thanks. #FidelCastro #FidelCastroIsDead"

Ana Castillo, 51, was quoted in one Tweet reading, "I've been waiting for this all of my life. I'm celebrating for all those in fear in Cuba."

Fidel Castro has done many things in his long political career, most of which people believe is for the worse but that doesn't stop the faithful from mourning the loss of who they see as a revolutionary.

Cuba will be in a state of mourning for one more week and the world waits to see what, if anything, will change afterward.

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