Age of 90. The communist leader established a oneparty rule and sparking International Conflicts delying 11 u. S. President s during his half century in power. And the announcement was made last night by raul castro, who stepped in power after fidel fell ill. Celebrations have been under way since the Exile Community learned of the death of fidel castro. And Kerry Sanders is in Little Havana where people have been gathering. I know people have been coming by the droves throughout the morning, and it seems like its getting bigger out there, the celebrations . Reporter its growing as we speak. You can see all the folks that gathered who are celebrating, and the road was closed and now with kye ocho open, you can hear the celebrations that are born out of a cuban die as supra. We have seen waves of cubans leaving the island, many of them political asylum, and others refugees. Carlos, how do you feel right now . I feel good. Im happy for what has happened. What do you think the future is for your country in cuba . I dont think anything is going to change, no. I think its going to continue equally. 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 . Its the day that is more happy of my life. Its the happiest day you have had in your life . He doesnt think theres going to be a day as happy for him as there is right now. Reporter wait, wait, wait. What hes talking about now is the recent election of donald trump, and hes 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 hes 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 parade, and i think there will be a parade here all day. Lets walk down here quickly because i think we hear singing as well. Lets listen in here. [ speaking spanish ] reporter you see, he grabs his heart. We are so happy because we sing we are free, and we had an opportunity to do something of our country because the dictator has died. Rorr thank you very much. There you go. As we said really, when he rose to power in 1959 to today, people have been wondering when fidel castro would die, and one person said we are not celebrating he would die, we are celebrating something that took so much away from our families and country. Thank you for that. We are awaiting a statement from the white house, but for now theres new reaction from the president elect, and for that lets bring in Kristin Welker who is covering donald trump in palm beach, florida. What is he saying this morning . Reporter so far we have heard briefly in the form of a tweet from the president elect, and it says fidel castro is dead with an exclamation mark and its short and to the point, and i anticipate we will get something broader later today. What does this mean for cuban and u. S. Relationrelations. Actions from president obama included lifting restrictions on some imports which allowed trade to open up between the two countries and flights resumed again. The president s actions are executive actions which means effectively that President Trump can come in and reverse them, and it will be hard to unwind all of those things we just talked about, and we are getting reactions coming in from capitol hill, and take a listen what she had to say earlier on the today show. Hes a man that executed many family members, and his legacy, i believe, will be one of how you can hang on to power you are a totalitarian leader, and its simple, you control every aspect of everybodys life, where you live and where you work, and everything is stateowned and operated with very few exceptions, and as long as there is a castro in power, theres not much hope for change. Reporter the congresswoman was born in cuba, and we are getting other reaction from lawmakers. This is from ed royce, the House Foreign Affairs committee chairman, and he said for more half a century, the cuban people suffered under the dictatorship of the castro clan, and this, from senator ted cruz, his death cannot bring back his thousands of victims, and nor can it bring comfort to their families. Now, this all comes against the backdrop of president elect trump trying to pick a secretary of state, and of course that position will be deeply involved in the relations between the United States of cuba, and right now his two top picks, guiliani and mitt romney, and they have different views on a host of issues, and the other big question, betty, is will president elect trump moderate on this point because since he was elected we have seen him moderate on a number of Different Campaign promises. Will this be another one . Thats a good point. We look forward to that response. We are awaiting reaction from president obama on this and ron allen is outside the white house. When do you expect to hear from the administration . Reporter sometime later today, and we know cuba has been a huge priority for president obama and they had nothing to say overnight as the developments have broken. Cuba is a big concern for president obama and i imagine the white house will be watching to see what happens on the ground in cuba, a lot of the policies and the changes that he has tried to initiate there depend in large part on the cuban government, the existing cuban government being open to some of these changes and making changes in the name of freedom, human rights, and opening up the society, just to follow on what Kristin Welker was saying, the administration, what they have done there, they think its not reversible, for donald trump to walk in and undo what they established, and there are business relationships and hundreds of thousands traveling to cuba now, and although some can be done administratively, and the administrations argument is now that these relations exist, that will be very difficult to break apart as a real practical matter. And the bottom line, of course, is that the administration believes by establishing the relationships and engaging cuba, thats the way you will bring change and the last 50 years the embargo has not changed the cuban government. Again, at this point, a lot of uncertainty as to what will happen with cuba Going Forward and we hope to hear more from the president about that perhaps later today. Thank you. For more on the impact of Fidel Castros death, let me bring in raul reyes, attorney and columnicolum coloni colonical columnist. The cuban people need our solidarity. Some of the other reactions very polarizing, and many saying go ahead and repeal everything or just undo everything that president obama has done to somewhat normalize relations with cuba. What does it mean for the future of that country especially with the United States . One thing to remember when we look to u. S. And cuba relations in the future, up until his death, in the last few years, fidel castro had been stepping back and he handed over power to his brother, raul, who, by the way, is an elderly person. He is 85 years old, and he said he would step down in 2017. 2018. 2018. Raul is more pragmatic than fidel, and it was raul that greeted president obama when he went to cuba, and raul castro also spoke out the u. S. And warned against the u. S. Influence and imperialism, and thats primarily for the home audience and for some allies throughout latin america. I believe that raul is much far more evenhanded in the sense that he knows cuba needs American Investment and u. S. Dollars, and i think the combination, and we have a president elect and a lot about his ideology is a question mark, we dont know, but in blunt terms, part of me thinks when donald trump looks at cuba, he sees potential golf courses and Real Estate Development and a tremendous business opportunity. Thats the point that i got to in the last hour, but what i received back from talking to some of the analyst saying, essentially right now everything is controlled and owned by the cuban government. You can talk about golf courses and hotels but all that money will go back to the government. It does, and thats right now thats how any limited investment in cuba would work, and they are allowing hotels into cuba, and its a joint venture with cuban partners connected with the government and all the risk is absorbed by the american side of the company. Its similar to what u. S. Companies went through in the early days when the republic of china opened to the west. Its a sweet deal on the cuban side in the sense that the american assume all the risk and are putting up the money and theres a wildcard that should relations deteriorate, the cubans could take those properties or the investments back. So its, despite the warming in the relations, this is still New Territory and its still very much a risky venture, and i think part of the reason right now we are seeing so much polarization in terms of the response, i think even cuban americans, we dont have the full sense of the impact of fidel castro, for 50 years there was a news backout from the island and when fidel castro took over, there were millions killed by a firing skwaurd, and if you were jehovahs witness, you were sent to labor counts for 20 years, and he ended the Civil Society and i think now its a cathartic moment for the cubans, and thats why we are seeing a polarizing response. Does donald trump need to have a relationship with cuba instead of rolling back everything that has been done by the Obama Administration . Yes, i think he needs that strategic partnership. I think he would be very wise to proceed slowly and with the input of some of the cuban american leaders in south florida, such as illana ross, and these were known as hardliners, and they escaped cuba and lost everything a i think he would be wise to continue the opening of relationships with cuba, and thats asking for more from the cuban government, demanding more, and thats been a big criticism, and the cubans have not been giving them enough, and its a one sided deal. Thank you. We do appreciate it. Romney or Rudy Guiliani . Look at the growing divide in the Transition Team these two men created for the secretary of state job. And show some love for the people we love. And the places we love. The stuff we cant get anywhere else and food that tastes like home. Because the money we spend here can help keep our town growing. Today is Small Business saturday. Lets shop small for our neighborhood, our town, our home. Get up, all get together and shop small today. [ cougshh. I have a cold with this annoying runny nose. Better take something. Dayquil liquid gels doesnt treat a runny nose. It doesnt . Alkaseltzer plus cold and cough liquid gels fight your worst cold symptoms including your runny nose. Oh, what a relief it is he wears his army hat, he gets awalks aroundliments. With his army shirt looking all nice. And then people just say, thank you for serving our country and im like, thats my dad. Male vo no one deserves a warmer welcome home. Thats why were hiring 10,000 members of the military community by the end of 2017. Im very proud of him. Male vo comcast. Green Party President ial nominee, jill stein, is claiming her first victory in her challenge to the election results. Officials in wisconsin say the statewide recount of votes will begin late next week after receiving steins petition for yesterdays deadline. Stein 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 insure that in this election and Going Forward that we can count on the accuracy and the security and the veracity of our votes. We need to know that the voting result is actually what we intended and that the system has not been tampered with or compromised. Stein also told her followers shes hiking her goal to 7 million now that she raised just a little more than 5 million. Her initial fundraising goal was 2. 5 million, and she will focus her efforts on michigan which nbc news still has not called and pennsylvania. President elect trump continues his Holiday Weekend in florida and this after the Campaign Announced two new staff positions yesterday, and neither position requires senate confirmation. Trump will resume meetings with potential Administration Officials on monday, and david clarke is among them to run the department of homeland security. Thanks for being with us. Thanks for having me this morning. Do you think castros death will motivate trump to undo president obamas executive orders regarding cuba . It presents a new opportunity for him to allow the United States to remain in contact with cuba, to continue to have those diplomatic relations. Fidel castro has been moving cuba in a direction that has allowed the United States and allowed president obama to reopen those relations to visit cuba this past year, and he wants to wait and see how castros death would affect cuba and the ability to do business there. We didnt get much indication as to where he might go with this accept for a tweet that said fidel castro is dead, and hopefully we will hear more throughout the day. In the meantime, he is set to attend meetings on monday, and what do we hear about the Rudy Guiliani versus romney for secretary of state . Loyalty is the big issue in this circumstance, mitt romney was one of the people that was not behind donald trump in the president ial primary, so loyalty has been a big issue as donald trump picked his cabinet, and Rudy Guiliani has undeniably been very loyal to trump, and especially in the final days of his campaign. You have seen Newt Gingrich come out publicly, and Mike Huckabee apwae come out and say they think Rudy Guiliani would be a better pick and they are close with trump, and then we saw over the thanksgiving holiday, Kellyanne Conway tweeting and suggesting that she thought mitt romney because he was not loyal to donald trump, that he might not be a good adviser. How about ben carson . At first he didnt want a position and now hes back in the mix for hud secretary. Thats another one that will be watching. The housing urban and development, we are talking about secretary of state, but he would be in charge of a department of looks at homelessness, and he would be interested in the position because he wants to rebuild the inner cities, and he said he had a lot of patients from that area as well since living there, and he thinks he could be a unique perspective to it. Are you surprised he first said he didnt want a position . Its very curious at first he didnt think that he would be a good fit, and he did say that through a spokesman, so some things may have been mischaracterized there, and he didnt say he would be the best for the service in the government, and its possible president elect trump talked to him and told him he wants him on his team and perhaps dr. Carson changed his mind from their conversations. Thank you for joining us today. Thank you for having me. Little havana in miami celebrates the death of fidel castro, and reaction from around the world is mixed. We will survey the globe in just a bit. Liberty mutual stood with me when i was too busy with the kids to get a repair estimate. I just snapped a photo and got an estimate in 24 hours. My Insurance Company definitely doesnt have that. You can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™ Liberty Mutual insurance gaviscon is a proven heartburn remedy that gives you fastacting, longlasting relief. It immediately neutralizes acid and only gaviscon helps keep acid down for hours. For fastacting, longlasting relief, try doctorrecommended gaviscon. Still ahead, more on the breaking news of fidel castro, including reaction from World Leaders. He gets a lot of compliments. He wears his army hat, walks around with his army shirt looking all nice. And then people just say, thank you for serving our country and im like, thats my dad. Male vo no one deserves a warmer welcome home. Thats why were hiring 10,000 members of the military community by the end of 2017. Im very proud of him. Male vo comcast. i wanted him to eat healthy. , so i feed jake purina cat chow naturals indoor, a nutritious formula with no artificial flavors. Made specifically for indoor cats. Purina cat chow. Nutrition to build better lives. Welcome back, everyone. I am betty nguyen here at msnbc World Headquarters in new york. Fidel castro is dead at the age of 90. Castro overthrew the u. S. Government in 1959, and no cause of death has been given but he has been in Failing Health for many years. The cuban government declared nine days of National Mourning culminating with a funeral next sunday. And we will go to Kerry Sanders in Little Havana. Are residents anticipating change in cuba . Reporter they are hoping for that, as i make my way through the crowd, and many of them got out here at 2 00 in the morning and they have been gathering every since. And they are showing me the flags here, the cuban and american flags, and people hitting the cable and having fun, and they are waiting for so long for a change in cuba, and part of the symbolic change in all of this, and a man handing me a cuban cigar, thank you. And they are waiting for castro to pass away, and you can look at people waving the cuban flag, and many of them left the island in the early 60s, because when fidel castro came to power, he took land and he took businesses and many times he imprisoned people, tortured them and these are the memories that you see bubbling up here, and while some of these people are young and certainly wouldnt remember that, they have heard the stories from their parents and grandparents. Do you speak english . I speak good english. No problem. Reporter are you cuban american . I am overjoyed for my grand pair mother who is not here to see this, and i am here to celebrate. Reporter tell me your story . When did your family leave cuban . They escaped in 1963, and four days in the gulf of mexico, ended up in cozumel, and then they went to mexico city, and i am the liberty baby, and my mother was seven months pregnant with me, and i was born in los angeles, and i am a welfare baby. The captain was in on it and made it looks like a mutiny, and they were all scared because they didnt know if somebody was going to be working for the government and they ended up in cozumel in mexico. Reporter people are seeing celebrations and they are hearing about a head of state dying. You have to explain to our nation, why would somebody be thrilled at somebodys death . Would you call him a dictator . Yeah, a dictator, thug, a murderer, and hes my parents version of hitler, and everything that is wrong that a human being can do and all they did was divide families. What does it take for a country to send their children out through the peter pan stories explain that. Peter pan, this is where families took their children and they had the faith of putting their children on a plane and flying them to miami with the parents staying back in cuba that the families would be reunited, and the children arrived here and the Catholic Services helped to settle them and ultimately they were reunited, and that was a difficult thing to do, i believe the believe the best thing is to give my children up and hopefully we meet up again. How bad does it have to be before you let your children go from the age of 5 and on . Reporter and thats why theres a celebration here. Exactly. In celebration of their parents and grandparents, and i am of cuban heritage, and i am here, but my grandmother, she is not here. Reporter there you go. Thats sort of the explanation you see, something that people in miami has one out of every three people that lives here is 6 cuban american descent. Really, 1. 2 cuban americans who were here shes nodding her head, celebrating. Its an emotional journey and a personal one from many on the streets in Little Havana. Thank you for that. Theres plenty of reaction around the world to the death of fidel castro, and we are joined from london, and matt, what are you hearing from World Leaders . Betty, the latest reaction has come in from the vatican just this afternoon. Pope francis called Fidel Castros passing sad news, and of course the pope was a major player in the recent history, and held a singular role in the thaw between america and cuba. American politicians antagonized him for years, while leftist leaders and revolutionaries throughout the world idealized and emyao hraeutd him. He has been largely absent from the political stage, since he stepped aside about ten years ago. Today the russian government called castro a symbol for an entire era of modern history, and for gorbachev, hailed castro an as an outstanding politician and our friend, and Vladimir Putin said castro was a strong and wise man who always looked in the future with confidence. And then in mexicos inet toe called castro a friend. It was cuban soldiers that dealt South African troops a major defeat in the 1980s. Castro will be cremated today, and then his ashes will be returned next week. Joining me on the phone a lecturer and editor of latin america goes global. And castros death is a symbolic event, and can we explain more outreach between the u. S. And cuba . I think fidels death does remove a huge stigma for a lot of people. You see the people celebrating in miami, with good reason. Fidel castro was a dictator, and a lot of hard line policy was driven against fidel, and he was larger than life and iconic, and right now basically u. S. Policy is guided by an embargo which is law and obama made as many changes as he can using executive action under that law, and i think it will be easier now that fidel is out of the picture. President elect has promised rolling back executive orders and relaxing some of the trade rules between cuba and the u. S. , and does donald trump have to have some kind of relationship with cuba Going Forward . I think he does. First of all, under obamas changes, since 2014, the u. S. Initiated a series of dialogues with the cuban government in which they developed bilateral cooperation on the antinarcotics trafficking and on issues of the environment and migration that are very important and served in the long term in u. S. Security interests, and so rolling back diplomatic relations would be folly. And in the tourism, sheraton four seasons manages a hotel there, and every Major Airline will have flights, and what placed the u. S. Government for breach of contract if it were to stop all of those, so it will be difficult for donald trump, whatever he may want to do now to completely return the policy to preobama. On raul castro, he already said he will step down in 2018, so what could happen then . Do we have any indication who he might be preparing to fill that spot . This is a tough one. I think everybody is trying to read right now the tobacco leaves in cuba to figure this one out. They have designated one man to be the principle Vice President , but hes unknown, and he grew up through the communist party in the rural areas, and theres still a whole series that date back to the days when fidel and his brother were in the mountains, and they are still on the secene and very active, and theres a sense of some graduate process of opening political and economic when castro passes. Thank you. Lets talk about politics now. President elect donald trump named two more top advisers today. Deputy National Security adviser, k. T. Mcfarland, and lets bring in our guest. What is your take on the latest picks . Good. K. T. Mcfarland is savvy and wellinformed and knows her stuff and is a conservative. What about the other one . I dont know much about him, but he seems to be a good pick. So far i have been impressed with transition trump and the only thing that remains for me is the pick as secretary of state. What kind of team do you think he is putting together . Looks like he will put together a military with military leaders, generals in charge, and what i heard from matusz, he will help to develop good relationships. Lets dive into this. Looking at the other Foreign Policy staffers, michael flynn, mitt romney, and bolton, and they are all over the place in approach and world views, so could that be a good thing . Sure. Looks like donald trump is putting together people that give him a diverse set of opinions, and i think thats commandable. A lot of ceos do that, they create natural tensions in organizations so he might get the best advice from both sides but ultimately it looks like he will inbound charge and he will decide among the very opinions, and the only problem right now is some of the opinions have not spilled over into the public in terms of his choice for secretary of state, and i dont think thats healthy for his administration. Who do you think he will pick ultimately . Seems like theres a bit of an infight between Rudy Guiliani and mitt romney. Donald trump says hes the only one that knows and that seems to be apparently true, and some are against mitt romney but i think mitt romney would be the better choice . Why . Hes very well versed in Foreign Affairs and very thoughtful when it comes to studying world problems, and can you see i have seen this throughout his career, and he looks at things in a very detailed approach and is a very good technocrat intelligent, and thats going to be important for secretary of state. And could the election recount change anything . What jill stein is engaging in is a fraud, and she talks about Election Fraud and theres no evidence of it, and shes raising money for democratic voters to build a green party list, and i think thats deceptive. Stopping big oil. What is it like for hundreds in north dakota after spending weeks and months on a protest line to stop the construction of a oil pipeline . And next, tim ryan on challenging nancy pelosi for minority leader in the house. Your healthcare costs. Are you getting all the benefits available to you . Call healthmarkets and well help you find the medicare plan thats right for you. Hi, im doctor [martin gizzi. ] its a new medicare year. That means more changes. And more confusion. The key question is what can you do now, to ensure you get the care you need in the coming year . Call healthmarkets today. We have access to thousands of Medicare Options from leading Insurance Companies nationwide. Plans that may. Cost less. Cover more. With more choices. Like dental and vision care. And freedom to choose your own doctors all at a price you can afford. We help find the right plan for you. And we do it at no cost. Make sure you have what you need to get the care thats right for you. If you miss the deadline, you may have to wait another year before enrolling. Call [healthmarkets] now miamis Little Havana continues to celebrate. Look at the live pictures, and the cuban exiles are rejoining over the death of fidel castro, who passed away all night. We will follow this all day long right here on msnbc. And then ordering to abandon camp by december 5th or they could face prosecution. This is the latest move on the ongoing battle over a 3. 7 billion pipeline that stretches 1,100 miles from illinois to shy of the canadian border, and protesters clashed with local residents. Joining me now is a tribal rights attorney. To those not familiar with with a is happening here, what is the status of things from a legal perspective . As of right now the army core of engineers said they will treat us as trespassers on december 5th, and we will be subjected to federal, state, and local law, and despite all the increased violence on behalf of police officers, including almost taking off nearly taking off a girls arm on sunday and hitting hundreds of people with Water Cannons and below freezing temperatures, their response of the administration is to object us to local law to sweep the camps if we are still there on december 5th. Legally can anything be done about that . The administration can retrack that, and the Obama Administration, with all the months of the police becoming increasing ly violent to unarme people, and a camp with theres 9,000 people out there on this issue. I want to ask you about that, and i know you personally camped out since august. What are the Living Conditions like . Its, you know, its a gathering of nations, and its a gathering of allies and a gathering of people that are concerned for our environment in the future, and its a little jarring because its also p punctuated by 24hour a day surveillance by planes and spotlights where the drill is planning to go, and it creates the environment of both peace and a coming together of Indigenous People, and theres razor wire that has been established on this hill that you are seeing in the photo, and you know along the bridge that was blockaded by the police, and there have been vehicles that have been chained to the bridge, and people tried to move it and the response was the violent interaction in which they nearly took off a girls arm. I have to ask you, what do activist hope to gain for all of this . This is an opportunity to change the relationship of people to fossil fuels. This is not needed, and secondly, its a pipeline that never had a full Environmental Review or an Environmental Impact statement done, and instead they avoided, you know, a stringent level of Environmental Review take into consideration the Public Health and risk to this, destruction of sacred sites. Also an opportunity to say that the Indigenous People and indigenous rights matter. This is 2016, you cant be violating treaty rights. This kind of treatment of rerouting the pipeline to go right next to the reservationist unacce unacceptable. There are no sacrifice zones. People have rights. We have the trikts our future just like any other demographic in our country. Thank you, tara. Thank you for joining us today. We appreciate it. Nine days of National Mourning have begun following the death of fidel castro. He passed away yesterday after Failing Health. In miamis Little Havana, they are rejoicing castros death. Marco rubio released this statement that history will remember fidel castro as an evil dictator. We have been watching it all day and they have been on the streets ever since news broke late last night. A live look at the Iconic Rockefeller Center tree. Its still being decorated and the light takes place this wednesday night. How are things looking across the country this Holiday Weekend . Lets take in meteorologist bonnie schneider. Are we seeing any trouble spots in areas . We sure are today and especially tomorrow, one of the busiest travel days of the year. Driving into arkansas and oklahoma, we have travel advisories. Keep in mind, freezing fog is even more dangerous. It means you could have icy areas as well as poor visibility. We have delays. San francisco well over an hour, just the beginning of tough travel across the bay area, across northern california. Heavy rain moving in and gusty winds as well. We are to see this throughout the day and seattle due to clouds and heavy downpours. As youre travel, most of the day looks good with exceptions. Across New Hampshire and maine, rain and possibly snow. Take it slow on the roadways and possibly fog as well. Sunday, unfortunately it gets worse, all the rain pushes to the south and in los angeles we are likely to see delays and potentially mudslides southward and watch out for windy weather for boston weather if youre heading on a flight to boston or departing from there. Dri driving, watch out for heavy flo flooding. There it is, the risk for mudslides, be careful. Lake effect snow for new york state. Mainly into the Early Morning late night hours as the wind wraps around those bridges and makes it even colder. Temperatures across the country generally speaking are dwight nice. St. Louis, 55 degrees, definitely former in the northeast. Watch out for the rain come ing in, and the west coast, rain developing in the plain states and were watching for snow with this system. We could see up to 2 feet from the sierra from the snow were watching closely in the west. Sunday will be a rough traifl dtraifl travel day for some folks. That wraps up our hour. Next is am joy. Good morning and welcome to a. M. Joy. We start with breaking news. Cuban leader fidel castro has died at the age of 90. His brother, raul castro announced his death last nights on state television. He was the third longest serving head of state leading cuba for five decades after taking power in the revolution. Cuba became a single party state and the only communist government in the western hemisphere. He outlasted Nine American president s before he stepped down in 2008. Over the years, castro defied multiple attempts s ts to remo