The jeep carrying Cuban Communist dictator Fidel Castro’s remains broke down during the funeral procession on Saturday.
As a result, Cuban soldiers were forced to push the vehicle to his final resting place. The Russian-manufactured jeep was carrying Castro’s ashes—more than a week after he died at the age of 90.
Some believed the jeep’s mechanical problems were symbolic of Castro’s reign over Cuba amid the crowd’s loud adulations that praised his legacy. Many have complained of the country’s autocratic government, human rights abuses, abysmal press freedoms, its stagnant economy, and its inefficient bureaucracy—while others have commended his reforms to education and health care.
According to Fox News, the jeep was heading through a throng of people ahead of the Santa Ifigenia cemetery, Castro’s final resting spot. When it arrived there, soldiers gave him a 21-gun salute.
The New York Post reported that Castro left “detailed instructions” for his funeral to his brother, current Cuban president Raul Castro. It included the 7 a.m. burial of his ashes on Sunday morning at the historic cemetery at the southeastern tip of the island.
He instructed for his ashes be buried next to the Marti mausoleum, the Post reported.
Many heads of state, including U.S. President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, decided to skip Castro’s funeral. Obama’s deputy national security adviser Benjamin Rhodes attended the procession.
Russia also sent an official delegation, the New York Post reported.
Zimbabwe’s longtime dictator, Robert Mugabe, a friend of Castro, attended the event. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and former Brazilian president Luis Ignacio Lula Da Silva attended the funeral, AFP reported.
